My Favorite Song
by Julia-Chama
Summary: This is the first fanfiction I ever wrote. I posted my first chapters on MCL in 2012, and I have just now decided to post it here. Why? Because right now, I'm writing a sequel to one of the endings in this one! (Why? X'D) This story is based on the characters of MCL, although they are pretty much out of character, lol. I play the dumbo "Mary Sue" who goes for all the boys. (lol)
1. Prologue: Change is a Good Thing

Well, this is it. My new home. My new high school. My new life, all on my own. Ever since my parents died–no…were _*_ killed* in that fire six years ago, I've been living the life of a runaway orphan. I don't have any relatives left, and my fear of being put in an orphanage had gotten the better of me. I haven't been doing anything but running; running from the police, my teachers, or _anyone_ who found out my secret. When people ask about my parents, I always have ways of convincing them that they exist. Most of the time, the subject would drop almost as soon as it came up, but then there are times when people get suspicious. During these times, I would always tell them that they work late or that they're on one of their many business trips; things like that. However, I'm not perfect; I can't always cover up their non-existence, so if anyone finds out, I have to pack up and leave before I'm discovered. Then I would repeat the process in a new area. I have done this several times, and it's been depressing having to leave my friends so often, but I always remembered what my parents had told me: Change is a **good** thing.

I had just recently rented my own apartment for what seemed to be the millionth time, and was now ready to live yet _another_ new life for myself, starting with my brand new high school, Sweet Amoris High. When I first laid eyes on Sweet Amoris, all I could think about was how enormous and complicated the buildings appeared to be. As I stood there, frozen on the sidewalk in front of the courtyard, I realized that I didn't know anyone at this school and that I was going to get lost for sure. *Just remember what your parents said,* I thought to myself. *Change is a **good** thing.* And with that, I let out a sigh and started towards the cluster of gigantic buildings, my new high school.


	2. Starting Out (Again)

As I strolled across the courtyard on my way to school, I looked around in admiration of the area around me. It appeared to be a nice, quiet place; somewhere I would enjoy spending my free time. I must have spent too much time looking around because after a while, I noticed the last few students entering the school. *No! I can NOT be late!* I thought to myself as I started sprinting towards the school. I had almost gotten to the front door, but stopped in my tracks as a sudden realization came to mind. *I don't know where anything is.* I quickly looked around to see if there was anyone I could ask. And then I saw…him.

A boy about my age (maybe a little older) was leaning up against a tree in front of the school. He was a tall person with flaming red hair. The color didn't look natural, it had obviously been dyed. He was wearing a leather jacket over a red t-shirt that said "Winged Skull" and black jeans. The look on his face just seemed so….uninterested. I walked up to him, and he turned his head to look at me with piercing gray eyes that I had never seen before. I started to ask him for directions, but then I noticed that he was listening to his mp3 player, so there was no way that he could possibly hear me. I shook my head and walked towards the school. *I'll just have to find my own way.*

I had just reached the door and held it open to go inside when I heard a voice behind me call out. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" I turned to see the guy with the red hair standing at the tree smirking at me. "Never mind" I said. "You're obviously too busy standing there!" He chuckled when I said that. I guess I had let go of the door while I was talking to him because when I turned to enter the school, *BAM* the door slammed into my face! "Nice one, slim." The redhead laughed, having the time of his life over there. "Oh, shut up." I said quietly to myself as I held the door open again and entered the school.


	3. Another School, Nothing Special

Rubbing the mark on my face where the door had hit me, this day had already turned out to be a bad day for me. Not that I was surprised, the first day of school was ALWAYS my bad luck charm, something was bound to happen. I was standing by my assigned locker when an old woman with gray hair in a bun walked up to me. "Hello there! You must be the new student. I'm the school's Principal. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions." She looked friendly with that big smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Julia." I smiled back. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, Julia! Now then, if you're ready to begin registration, please head into the student council room over there and speak to the student body president. His name is Nathaniel, I'm sure you'll like him!" Principal Amzy pointed me to the room across from my locker and walked off. (I swear if she had been any happier, she would've skipped off instead.)

I entered the student council room and was greeted by a friendly looking blonde boy. "Ah, you must be the new student the principal mentioned. You're here for registration aren't you? If I recall correctly, you've already submitted your registration form…" He gave me a warm smile and then searched through the stack of papers for my registration form. "Here it is." He said and asked me to confirm that it was **my** form. I nodded and he replied, "Then all you need is a photo ID and $25." I stared at him in shock for a moment. Nowhere in the handbook had it said anything about a photo ID and $25. *Wait, maybe it did; maybe I just skimmed over it…* The golden haired boy must've noticed because soon afterward he said "Don't worry, you can get your photo ID at the office, so all you need is 25 dollars." *But I don't **have** 25 dollars…* I thought to myself. "Ok, then" I replied, and started towards the door. "Uh, wait!" he called to me. "I'm Nathaniel by the way. I hope you like it here." I turned to him and said "Well, it's nice to meet you Nathaniel." And with that, I turned back to the door and left.

After I had gotten my photo ID at the office, I walked back to my locker wondering how I was going to get that $25. When I got there, a boy who looked oddly familiar was standing right in front of it. As I approached, the boy turned to me and shouted "HEY, JULIA-CHAMA!" I instantly remembered, "Ken?! What are YOU doing here?"

(You see, I'm a loner. I do most things by myself, and I don't have many friends. Back in my previous school, a nerdy kid named Ken noticed me sitting in a corner of the playground all by myself one afternoon, so he decided to become my friend. He's more of a pain really… Since then, he was absolutely **obsessed** with me. I appreciated his concern, but he never left me alone when I wanted him to and he never stops talking either about me or chocolate cookies. He was so upset when he found out that I was moving away, and a small part of me felt sorry for him, but I was mostly relieved and excited to finally get away from that clingy freak. *Sorry Ken…* And now he's **here!** . )

"Remember when you moved away and I was so upset? Well, I found out that you're going to **this** school, so I transferred here just for you!" *Ken, that's just creepy…* "WHY?!" I shouted at him. His facial expression instantly turned from excited to sad. "Well, because…I like you, that's why!" He replied, going back to his usual self. "Hey listen, I heard you have no money for registration." *Ok, just WHERE did he hear that?!* "So, here! You can have my registration money!" he exclaimed with joy. Even though I don't really like him, I didn't want to take his money, so I kindly refused and then he said "Oh no, don't worry about it! This is just extra; I already paid for my registration!" After hearing that, I kindly said "Thanks, Ken. Well, I have to go register now, bye!" "Ok, SEE YOU LATER JULIA-CHAMA!" *Why does he have to **shout** like that?!* And with that, I made my way back to the student council room and finished my registration.

After my registration was finished, the rest of the day flew by so quickly, I didn't even realize it until the last bell rang. As I returned everything that wasn't needed for homework to my locker, I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Nathaniel walking toward me. "Oh, hi Nathaniel. What's up? Did I forget something on my registration form or something?" To that, he replied "No, no, not at all. I actually came because I thought you might want to go to the school library with me. After all, you're new here; a trip to the library might help you find your way around the school a little better. So, shall we go?" "Um…" I had to think about that for a moment. *I don't know, I don't really like books...* I was so deep in thought, (I know, I'm indecisive like that, don't judge me! XD) I had barely noticed that Nathaniel was looking somewhere behind me, but before I could ask what he was looking at, someone grabbed my hand and started pulling me in the other direction. "Slim, if it takes you that long to decide, you obviously don't wanna go." It was that red-haired boy again.

"What? No! I'm just indecisive!" I shouted at him. "Let go of her, Castiel!" Nathaniel tried to get him to release me, but the stubborn redhead just pushed him away and kept walking. I wanted to help him, but this so called "Castiel" just wouldn't let go of me. "Where are you taking me anyway?" I questioned him in an angry tone. "Somewhere _way_ cooler than that dumb library." He replied with a smile, not seeming to care whether I was happy or angry with him at the moment. We finally stopped at a door at the top of the highest stairway. Castiel reached into his pocket and pulled out a key to unlock the door.

He opened it and pulled me outside onto the roof of the school. The view from there was amazing, I was left speechless. Castiel saw my facial expression and said, "It's awesome, isn't it?" The only thing I could think to say was "It's amazing, Castiel…..you can see everything from up here." He grinned at that and replied "Now are you glad you came with me instead of going to that stupid library?" I laughed and said "Not that I really had a choice, you wouldn't let go of me if I begged you to." He chuckled and said, "Slim, I wouldn't have let go if you tried to bite my arm off." He was now laughing. "Slim…." I remembered today's little "incident" and then thought, *Oh great, now he's calling me slim. That's just perfect… _*_ I must've looked depressed, because Castiel then said to me "What's the matter, don't you like your nickname?" "No, not really…" I replied, but then he said "Too bad Slim, you gave that nickname to _yourself_ this morning." _*_ Yep, it's ALLL my fault.*

We spent a good hour after that just talking and enjoying the amazing view. After that, I went home. Castiel had offered to walk me home, but I kindly refused. (There was no way I was going to let him see that I live alone…) Anyway, he just shrugged and walked away. All night long, I was thinking about my first day at Sweet Amoris high. * _Maybe this day_ _ **wasn't**_ _so bad. Maybe I_ _ **would**_ _make some friends. Maybe there IS hope for me. Maybe….maybe this ISN'T just another school after all…_ *


	4. Triple Trouble

The next day, I was heading towards my history class for 5th period, but I was too deep in thought about my schedule for that day (I'm a very organized person…) that I wasn't really paying attention. I was almost at the classroom door when someone stepped in front of me and then *BAM!* Suddenly, I was on the floor, my homework and textbooks scattered everywhere. "Hey, why don't you watch where you're going you klutz!" I looked up to see a blonde girl and two other girls on either side of her. "Um, I'm sorry…" I started to say, but then the blonde girl interrupted "You'd better stay out of our way or you'll regret it! Wouldn't she, girls?" The other girls nodded and grinned with delight. "See you, loser!" The three girls walked off, and I quickly picked up my homework and textbooks and then went to class.

I was so puzzled at what happened that I just couldn't pay attention in class no matter how much I tried. "…and that's what happened right after the constitution was written. And Julia, if you don't mind, please stop staring at the cover of your textbook and try to pay attention!" The teacher was slightly annoyed at me. I replied, "Yes, sir" but I still couldn't, even if I wanted to. I was so glad when class was over because I would get to eat lunch and relax a little. I sat at an empty table, as usual. Ken came up to me and shouted "HEY JULIA-CHAMA! WHATSUP!" "GO AWAY KEN!" I yelled back, and he instantly ran away, crying. I just wasn't in the mood to put up with him today. *Oh god, now I'm gonna have to apologize to him later…*

Then Nathaniel walked up to my table and sat down next to me. "All by yourself?" He asked with a look of concern on his face. "It's alright, I'm used to this." I replied to him. "Oh, and I thought about you're offer. Sure, I'd love to go to the library with you." I had nothing better to do, and I felt bad for what happened yesterday, so I wanted to make up for it. "Really? Ok, we can go as soon as you're done eating." I looked at my full plate and sighed. "Well then, I guess we can go now." I replied, standing up.

"What? But, you haven't eaten anything…are you ok?" His face showed real concern now. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just not hungry today, that's all." I hated lying to such a nice guy, but I didn't really want him to know about the "event" earlier. "I still insist that you eat something. Starvation isn't good for your health, you know." He gestured me to sit down again. I did as he said because I was too…I don't even know what I was, mixed emotions, you know? Confusion, depression, I was upset.

Anyway, I sat down and ate until he was convinced I wasn't going to starve. We both went to the library afterward, and the whole time we just paced around, Nathaniel was talking enthusiastically about his favorite books and why they were his favorite, while I was just following him listening and trying my best to pay attention. *But still, who are those girls from earlier and what would they do to me if I bother them again?* I got lost in my own thoughts yet again. "….so you see, that's why mystery novels excite me…..Julia?"

We stopped walking and he turned to face me. "Huh? What is it?" I said to him, and he gave me that look of concern again. "Are you sure you're ok? You've been acting like this the whole time we've been here." To that, I played dumb with him. "Acting like what?" He replied "You've just been following me silently, looking depressed. What's on your mind?" And then I lied to him once again "I just don't really like books, that's all…" "Oh, really? I'm sorry, am I boring you? We can go somewhere else if you'd like." "That's ok, class is going to start again soon anyway. I really did like spending time with you, but if I don't go now I'll be late. I'll see you later Nathaniel." And with that, I walked off. "No, wait. Julia!" He called out to me, but I was already gone, and he still had his suspicions about whether or not I was "ok" like I had told him.

Since I took forever to get ready for P.E., I was running late for class. (literally) I ran as fast as I could to get to class on time, but on my way there I bumped into someone. "Ow…I'm sorry, I-" I looked up and saw that same blonde girl and her friends that I bumped into earlier. *Oh no..* "Oh, look, it's that klutz again! Didn't I tell you to stay out of my way?!" I quickly turned to run, but the blonde grabbed a hold of my ponytail and yanked me backwards. Her friends held me back as she slapped me as hard as she could, which left a huge, bright red mark on my face. Her friends then shoved me away and I slammed into the lockers. Hard. They all laughed and walked away with a look of accomplishment on their faces. My body was aching all over from my little slam into the lockers, not to mention the pain added from the slap to my face. I didn't feel like going to P.E. class like this, all I wanted to do was go home. I started towards the main entrance of the school. I turned a corner and saw Nathaniel walking in my direction. *Why does this sort of thing always happen?* He suddenly stopped, and looked at me, and I figured it's because he saw my face. I quickly covered the slap mark on my face with my hand, looked away and continued walking, but as I tried to hurry past him, he grabbed my shoulders with his hands and asked "Julia, what's wrong? Why are you covering your face?" His voice was filled with worry.

"It's nothing." I replied, and started again towards the door, but he didn't move. "It's not "nothing", let me see." Nathaniel took my hand from my face and saw the slap mark. He stared at me for a moment with a look of worry and concern, and then put his hand up to my face and asked "Does it hurt?" "Not really…" The truth was, it DID hurt. A lot. The lies must have been pretty obvious, because he asked "Why do you keep doing that?" "Doing what?" I replied, playing dumb with him. "Why do you push me away like that?"

I stared at him, surprised at his question. "I know you're lying to me, I can see right through you. You were acting really strange today. You left me there at the library when I was calling for you, and even earlier you didn't eat anything until I said something. Not to mention you were sitting there by yourself." To that, I muttered while still looking away "That part's not really abnormal…" When I said that, he looked at me with sad eyes. "Julia…"

He threw his arms around me and pulled me as close to him as he could. I just stood there in his arms, shocked. I didn't know what to do or say, but then he spoke to me while still clutching me tightly. "You don't have to be alone. I'll protect you." When he said this, I slowly fitted my arms around his neck, and closed my eyes, I was nearly crying. I didn't know what else to do. We just stood there for at least a minute, and then he let go, saying "I'll talk to her for you." He smiled at me and then walked off. *Talk to who? Did he know that girl I bumped into earlier?* Anyway, I was just too exhausted to care. I continued walking until I reached the courtyard.

As soon as I stepped outside, Castiel (who was still standing by that tree, might I add) quickly turned his head to look in my direction and smiled when he saw me. *What, does this guy just stand there and wait for me every day?* "Hey, slim. You didn't bump into any doors today, did you?" he asked me with that sarcastic smile of his. I rolled my eyes at him and continued walking. As I approached him, he noticed the slap mark that was still on my face and his smile faded. *Yeah. She slapped me that hard.* He came up to me and grabbed my shoulder, turning me to him so that he could see my face.

"Hey, what happened here? Geez, slim, I was just kidding when I asked you if you bumped into anything." He reached out to touch my face, but I slapped his hand away. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I assured him. "Are you sure?" He questioned me. "Yes, I'm fine. I promise." I REassured him. "Ok then…" He walked back to the tree, but I got the feeling he didn't believe me. By the time I got home, I was so exhausted that when my head touched my pillow, I instantly fell asleep. *What a long day…*


	5. Complications

The day after that, (I know, I'm going too slow with the times in the episodes, don't worry, I'll work on it. ;D) Castiel gave me a quick smile and then returned to his usual disinterested self as I crossed the courtyard on my way to school. *I'll bet he thinks he'll ruin his reputation if someone saw him smile for once lol.* I smiled back and continued on my way to the school. I had just reached the stairs leading to the doorway when Nathaniel came outside. He saw me instantly, and smiled. "Hi, Julia. How are you today?" He walked up to me and I replied "I'm good so far. How are you?" "I'm doing well. Thank you for asking" He gave me a warm smile, which I returned. I started towards the door, but he stopped me to say "Oh, and I talked to Amber for you." I stared at him for a moment, confused.

He then cleared my confusion by adding "Amber is my sister, the girl you…uh…had trouble with yesterday. I talked to her for you, so she shouldn't be bothering you anymore." To that, I replied "Well that's good." I was about to leave again, only to have him block me once again. "Uh-wait. That's not all." He had a sudden look of concern on his face. "What else happened?" I asked him. "Well, it's just that, her behavior this time is strange. She normally only insults people, she doesn't resort to violence often." he replied. "Well she slapped me PRETTY hard yesterday…." "I know…" he sighed. He stayed silent for a moment, and then continued while looking away, "She says that she slapped you because she saw you with…Castiel."

The look on Nathaniel's face implied that this bothered HIM more than it did Amber, but I ignored that and said "Why, does she like him or something?" and he instantly shot back at me with an almost-angry tone, "Yes, Amber adores Castiel. I think you should stay away from him….to avoid trouble with her." He looked away again. Something about the way he said that made it seem like avoiding trouble with Amber wasn't his main concern. *I don't know, maybe it's just me.* Anyway, I said "Um…okay." and when he finally looked at me again, he gave me that warm smile of his and walked me to my locker before going to the student council room right across the hallway.

I was just about to open my locker when I noticed a little white strip of paper in the little slit on the front. It read "Stay away from Castiel." I figured it was from Amber since she likes Castiel. I stuffed the note in the pocket of my sweater jacket, gathered my things from my locker and went to class. After my first class was over, I was on my way back to my locker when out of nowhere, someone tugged my sweater jacket, slamming me against the lockers. Then, whoever pulled me backwards held me there while a familiar blonde stepped out in front of me.

"So, the little klutz tattled on me…" It was Amber and her gang of bullies. "Amber." I said with a slightly-angry tone in my voice. "Did the widdle kwutz run crying to Nathey-Wathey thinking he'd save you?" She mocked in a baby voice. "No!" I shouted back at her. "It wasn't like that! He saw what you did and assumed, and he assumed right!" "Well, do you know what we do to tattletales?" She obviously wasn't listening to me. The girls holding me back snickered as she started to say "We-….oh, what's this?" Her view shifted to the white note hanging out of my pocket. She took it out and read it.

"Stay away from Castiel." "Yeah I know, it's the note you left me earlier!" She re-read the note and sneered. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't write this sorry excuse for a threat." She threw the paper at me and I questioned her. "Well, do you know who DID?" I was curious now. "No." She was obviously lying. Her friends let go of me, and started to walk away. Just as they were about to leave, Amber shouted at me from down the hall "I would take that advice though, If I was you!" Even at my distance from them in the hall, I could still hear them snickering as they left. I picked up the paper, and started towards my locker again.

By the time I got there, a second note was there. This one had different handwriting, so it was obviously from a different person. It read "Slim, meet me in the courtyard after school." Just from reading it, I could tell who it was. * REALLY subtle hint there, Castiel.* Throughout the rest of the school day, I went to and from classes, Nathaniel met me for lunch and Ken kept me company during recess with that stupid grin on his face. Once school was over, I stepped outside onto the courtyard and saw Castiel grinning at me. I walked up to him and was just about to ask him what this was about when he interrupted.

"Hey, slim. You like dogs?" I just stood there for a second and then shouted at him, "THAT'S what this is about? You left me a note asking me to meet you just so you could ask me if I like DOGS?!" He just laughed. "Well, do you?" he asked again. "Yeah, sure. Why?" He grinned and said, "Meet me at the park in 10 minutes." And with that, he left. *I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THE PARK IS!* I had to ask someone where the park was so that I would ACTUALLY KNOW where to go. Once I knew where to go, I ran as fast as I could so that I wouldn't be late. *Why do I even care?*

As soon as I got there, I stopped so I could catch my breath. Castiel saw me and said, "There you are. I thought you were gonna be late." I wanted to say something like, "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME THERE WITHOUT EVEN TELLING ME HOW TO GET HERE?!" but before I got the chance, Castiel spoke again. "Slim, this is my dog, Demon. Demon, this is Julia." I looked down at the huge dog. "Hi, Demon." The dog started growling at me. Castiel scowled at the dog, "Demon, that's not very nice." Demon whined at him and sat. "Good, now go apologize." As if Demon knew what Castiel told him, he slowly approached me and sniffed my hand before letting me pet him. I smiled at him.

"Aww…"

"Good boy, now QUICK, ATTACK HER!" Demon jumped on me, pinned me down and started licking my face. Then I shouted to Demon in-between laughs, "Hey, stop that!" Castiel was laughing almost as hard as I was. I finally managed to push Demon off me and stand up. I laugh-shouted at Castiel "What's wrong with you?" Though, I should've been angry, I couldn't get myself to stop laughing for a good minute after that. He laughed with me as Demon jumped up on both of us, trying to get at least ONE of us down again. Once we had calmed down, we just talked to each other, taking turns with Demon as we walked around the park, Demon trying to get us to run.

After a while, it started getting late. "Hey, it's getting late. I should go home." I said to Castiel as I turned to leave. "No, wait. Why don't you just stay and hang out with me a little longer?" Castiel asked while Demon whined at me for leaving. "I would, but it IS getting late…" I replied. I turned to leave, but Castiel grabbed my arm so that I couldn't. "Please?" He really wanted me to stay.

"I'm sorry, Castiel, but I can't." I started getting annoyed. "I have more important things to do, you know!" Castiel got angry. "Like what? Studying with your boyfriend?!" I looked at him angrily for a moment. "Boyfriend?!" I had no idea what he was talking about. Castiel tightened his grip around my arm and pulled me towards him. "Don't lie to me! I saw you with Golden Boy earlier!" He shouted at me. I shouted back at him, "Who? You mean Nathaniel? He's not my boyfriend!" "And just how long are you gonna let yourself think that?! Did you even notice the way he looked at you?!" At the moment Castiel said that, I just stopped and just stared at him. *Now that I think about it, Nathaniel DID have this loving look in his eyes when I was talking with him earlier today.* Castiel calmed down and spoke to me. "Julia, I know that look. He likes you. More than a friend."

Demon saw something hanging out of my pocket and grabbed hold of it with his teeth. Castiel took it out of his mouth and read the note out loud. "Stay away from Castiel." He shook his head angrily and muttered "Sneaky son of a-…" as he ripped the note up and threw it on the ground. I looked at him and questioned, "Castiel, are you…jealous?" He didn't answer, but instead said to me "You're right, it's getting late." He offered to walk me home, but I refused again. "That's another thing, why won't you let me walk you home?"

I thought for a moment. "My apartment is….messy…" He chuckled at that. "Slim, you're a terrible liar." *Was it THAT obvious?* Then I said to him, "Well, you still can't come inside. You have a dog, remember?" Castiel looked at Demon and then turned back to me. "You're just making excuses; I know what you're doing." I looked away, and he continued, "You can try to push me away all you want, Slim, but I'm not going anywhere." With that, he grabbed my hand as tightly as he could and started walking. *Push me away…someone else told me that same thing.* He said nothing during the long walk to my apartment building, but not once did he ever loosen his grip on my hand. Once we had gotten there, he finally let go of my hand and we said goodbye to each other. He started to walk away, but then turned back to me and said, "And Slim," he grinned at me. "Next time, I WILL see your apartment!" And with that, he walked off, Demon following close behind.

I stayed up until 2 a.m. doing the pile of homework my teachers had left for me that day. After that, I went to bed to try and get some rest, but I couldn't relax anyway, because no matter how much I tried not to, I just kept thinking about what had happened that day. What would I tell Nathaniel? What would Nathaniel do if he saw me with Castiel? ….Or, what would Castiel do if he saw me with Nathaniel? * Why does this whole thing have to be so COMPLICATED?!* I let out a groan, my thoughts just wouldn't stop. It wasn't until an hour later that I had finally passed out from exhaustion.


	6. A New Day, A New Club

For the next few days, I've been more focused on school than anything else. Even so, I've managed to become friends with a few girls from my class. Iris became my best friend; It turns out we're in a lot of the same classes. She was a really good friend too; she gave me great advice, helped me on homework, and cheered me up when I needed it. And apparently, I was the only person who was willing to listen to her endless discussions. I didn't mind because I don't talk much anyway. *Yay, I finally have friends!*

I was at my locker one morning gathering the materials needed for algebra class when the principal walked up to me. "Good morning, Julia. How are you today?" I replied by saying "I'm fine. How are you?" She smiled and said "I'm doing well today, thank you." She then handed me a piece of paper. "I am required to inform you that everyone must choose an extra-curricular club to join. This is the fill-out sheet for the club options. Please fill this out by the end of the day." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. I carefully examined the fill-out sheet that she gave me, only to find two club choices. I flipped the page over, but the backside was blank. *Two choices…really?*

The only two choices given to me were the basketball club and the gardening club, neither of which I was interested in. I had a little time left before class, so I tried to make a decision. I just stood there, staring at the paper when someone came up from behind me and snatched it out of my hands. I looked over and saw Castiel check off one of the boxes and place the paper back into my hands. "There." I looked at the paper again and saw that the basketball club was checked off. I turned to him and shouted "Wha- you can't do that!" He just grinned at me and said "Too bad, Slim. I just did." and started to walk away when I said "I don't even like sports, and I have no idea how to play basketball!" He looked over his shoulder and said to me, "Then I'll teach you, Slim, but don't think for even a second that I'll let you waste your time in the gardening club." With that, he walked off, leaving me to deal with it. I scowled as I dropped the note off at the student council room and went to class.

After the next few classes were over, it was finally time for lunch. Iris and I sat together at an otherwise-empty table, as usual. She told me all about her first half of the day, and in return I told her about mine, but I left out my little encounter with Castiel earlier. I was hoping to avoid the subject, but I knew it would come up eventually. Sure enough, not long afterward, she started talking about the school clubs. She told me that she picked the gardening club, and when she asked me what club I picked, I said with a somewhat angry tone "The basketball club". She must have noticed my tone, because she asked me "What's wrong?"

I quickly changed my tone and replied "Um….nothing. It's fine." Unfortunately, Iris is VERY persistent. No matter how much I tried to change the subject, she kept insisting that I tell her what happened. Eventually, I gave in and told Iris everything. She just scowled and said, "That guy is just so rude. Honestly, Castiel shouldn't be making your decisions for you." I wanted to argue her on that, but regardless of the way she made it sound, that didn't make it any less true. I just sat there in silence and finished my lunch as Iris continued talking non-stop. After I was done, I got up, threw my trash away and left, Iris following behind me.

The rest of the day wasn't all that different from any other day. I attended all my class, made some more small talk with Iris and my other friends, and even ran into Amber and her gang. They did nothing more than shove me away, but hey, that's better than getting slapped in the face any day, right? Anyway, after school was over, I stepped out onto the courtyard and started to walk home when a familiar voice called out to me. "Hey Slim, you forgettin something?" I turned to see Castiel. I looked at him, confused. "What?" He rolled his eyes at me and said "Basketball club. I'm not just gonna let you walk out on me that easily." I suddenly realized that I now had an after-school club to go to. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I forgot." I apologized. "Uh-huh. Let's go, missy." Castiel grabbed my arm and dragged me with him to the gym.

When we got there, Castiel finally let go of me as the coach started instructing us, as well as the rest of the club members. I couldn't see him or hear anything he was saying because I stood in the very back, but I could've sworn he mentioned something about a demonstration from his "star player". I shoved my way through the crowd so I could get a better look. A tall, black-haired boy with tan skin emerged from the crowd and showed us the basics. He even taught us a few tricks on his own. I just stared in amazement at his talent. *Who IS this guy?* As if Castiel could read my mind, he grinned at me and said "That's Dajan. He's a friend of mine." I looked at him and smiled. "Wow, really? That's great!" After the demonstration and instructions were finished, everyone else took a few minutes to get ready while Castiel called Dajan over and introduced me to him.

"Slim, this is Dajan. Dajan, Slim." I smacked Castiel on the arm and said to Dajan "My name is Julia, don't listen to him!" Castiel chuckled, and Dajan laughed, saying "Yeah, I'm pretty sure your name isn't 'Slim'. Don't worry, I'm well aware of Castiel's nickname fetish. Anyway, it's nice to meet you." I smiled back at him and replied "Yeah, you too." Dajan then turned to Castiel and said "It's nice seein' you again, man." and walked off. Castiel held his arm where I slapped him. "Ouch." He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at him and walked off to the girls' locker room to get ready for practice.

The whole time, I kept getting pushed, shoved, and trampled by all the guys AND girls in the club. I never made a single basket for my team, but that wasn't my main concern anyway. I wasn't really having fun either, I just kind of stayed out of the way, hoping I wouldn't get hurt again. I was so relieved when the game was over, I didn't even care that our team lost. I just walked over and sat on the bench. Castiel came over and sat next to me. "Hey, what happened?" I looked at him and sighed, "I told you I don't like sports, and I'm NOT good at this game…" He just looked at me "Yeah…" and then stood up. "And I told YOU I'm gonna teach you."

He grabbed my hand, yanked me onto my feet, and pulled me back to the basketball court. "Ok, now you stand there, and I'll stand here." I moved back from the basket a little bit. "There. Here's the ball. Shoot it." Castiel threw the ball over to me, and I caught it. I took the shot and made it into the basket. "Good. Now back up a little and try it again." I took a few steps back and took another shot. That one made it as well. "All right. Now, play against me. Try to make the shot while I try and block you." "Ok…." I said, and tried the shot again, but Castiel smacked the ball out of my hands. "C'mon, Slim, you gotta do better than that." I picked up the ball and tried again. I tried moving around him this time, but he was too fast for me and smacked the ball out of my hands again. I stood there and looked at him. "Can I go home now?" I really didn't like the game. Castiel replied, saying "No. Try again." I sighed and rolled my eyes as I went back to get the ball again.

After a while of trying and failing, Nathaniel came in. "Ah, there you are, Julia. I thought you went home already." Castiel scowled at him "What do YOU want?" but Nathaniel ignored him and continued "It's such a nice day outside, do you want to go for a stroll through the gardens with me?" Castiel spoke for me once again. "No, she's with me. We're busy." Nathaniel looked at me, and I just smiled and said "Actually, I would love to go with you. I'm done with this game." Nathaniel smiled and gently held my hand as we walked out of the gymnasium. I looked back at Castiel one more time. He just stood there with a look of sadness and disappointment on his face. I felt bad, but I really just wanted to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.

Nathaniel and I walked through the gardens together, talking about school, our likes, hobbies, etc. We were halfway through the garden when he said "Oh, um…Iris talked to me earlier." My ears perked up. "Oh, really?" He continued "Yeah, she told me everything." I looked at him. "….everything…?" *Oh God, Iris, PLEASE tell me you didn't-* "She told me all about your club incident with Castiel earlier." *Oh, no…* "Anyway, I switched it for you. She told me you didn't like sports, so I changed you to gardening club. Instead of the gym, you'll be coming here starting tomorrow." *I wonder what Castiel would say if he found out…* I just smiled at him and said "Thanks, Nathaniel." He smiled back at me. "No problem." For the rest of the walk, we just talked and enjoyed the scenery together.

By the time we were finished, it had gotten really late. Nathaniel offered to walk me home, which I kindly refused of course, but he insisted, just to make sure I would be safe. As with Castiel, I only let Nathaniel walk me to my apartment building, but unlike Castiel, Nathaniel didn't insist to actually go to my apartment. He respected my privacy. He gave me a goodbye hug and waved as he walked away. I waved back and then went up to my apartment.

I ate dinner, finished the chores, did my homework, you know, the usual. For the first time in days, I was actually able to fall asleep at a decent hour. Not before thinking about what happened that day though. I felt really bad for leaving Castiel there at the gym, but I had the most wonderful time with Nathaniel. The last thing that crossed my mind before I fell to sleep was, *What just happened today?*


	7. Storm

I woke up the next morning feeling relatively happy and well-rested, something I haven't felt for a LONG time. All my worries seemed to have faded away, and for once, I was a little energetic at THIS time of day. I got out of bed and cheerfully got ready for school. I made my way out the door and down to the lobby. (I have that kind of apartment building) *I'm so happy today, nothing can get in my way!* I thought to myself as I exited the apartment building with a smile on my face.

I had just stepped onto the courtyard when a voice called out to me. "Hey, you! Slim!" I looked over to see an angry Castiel stomp over to me. "What?!" I shouted back at him. He grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him. "How dare you?! As if bailing on me wasn't enough!" I got angry as well. "What do you mean?! What did **I** do?!" I tried to pull away from him, but his grip was too tight. "Don't play dumb with me! You told Nathaniel about what happened yesterday didn't you?! You told him I signed you up for basketball, so he switched you to gardening!" I was getting really angry now. "No I didn't! I didn't say ANYTHING to Nathaniel! I only told Iris, and that's ONLY because she kept bothering me about it!

"Okay, so you told Iris, the girl who CAN'T KEEP a secret!" Castiel was in my face now. I shouted back at him "I said that's ONLY because she wouldn't stop asking! I never meant to tell anyone! Now let me go! I'm gonna be late!" I finally managed to yank my arm out of Castiel's grip and started to leave when he shouted "Whatever! Enjoy your plants while you can, Slim, but I WILL get you back in basketball!" With that, he walked off and I continued on my way to class. *So much for my morning happiness….*

The morning classes were about the same as usual. I got tons of homework with barely any time to take in what I've learned, like always. *Oh well….at least now it's lunch time.* I returned my books to my locker and went to lunch.

I went to the cafeteria and got my lunch. I saw Iris waving at me from an empty table. "Hey, Julia! Over here!" Man, did I have SOMETHING to say to her! "Iris! I rushed over, sat down, and then practically exploded on her. "Why?! Why did you have to tell Nathaniel that Castiel signed me up for basketball?!" She looked at me surprised for a moment, and then became angry too. "What?! I was just doing what I thought YOU wanted! You obviously didn't want to be in basketball, so I had Nate switch it for you!" A few people looked at us; apparently we were being too loud. I calmed down a bit and talked to Iris again. "Yeah, a LOT of good that did me. Castiel HATES me now, thanks to you!" To that, she asked "Why do you even care?" *Yeah….why DO I care?* I thought to myself. Iris continued, "In any case, I doubt he hates you. What did he say?" I thought about what Castiel said this morning. "He said he's going to get me back in basketball club….and it sounded like he meant it too." Iris looked away for a moment.

"Ah, see, that's what I thought. Nathaniel's in gardening club." I looked at her, confused. "So?" She replied by saying, "Listen, I know that Nate likes you…but he HATES Castiel. And when he found out that you were spending more time with Castiel in the basketball club…..he nearly lost it. Nathaniel wanted to get you in the gardening club and away from Castiel as soon as he could." I looked at her, interested in what she had to say. "The same goes for Castiel." she continued, " **He** wants to get you back in the basketball club and away from **N** **athaniel** as soon as he can. Think about it." I looked away for a moment. I'm not the 'fastest' person in the world, but even **I** knew what she meant. Nathaniel and Castiel were fighting…..over me. *This can't POSSIBLY end well…* I thought to myself.

After lunch, I spent my free time with Ken. I wasn't really up for studying with Nathaniel and I SURE wasn't in the mood to talk to Castiel. Not after he blew up in my face that morning. "SO JULIA-CHAMA, DO YOU LIKE COOKIES?!" Ken shouted at me. "Ken, for the last time, I'm RIGHT NEXT to you! There's no need to shout…..but yeah, I like cookies." I just sat on the ground next to Ken outside and shared cookies with him as he talked endlessly about sweets.

After free time was over, I had just reached my locker when I noticed that the student council room's door was wide open. Out of curiosity, I went inside. The room was trashed. Papers were flying everywhere, and there wasn't one piece of furniture in the room that hadn't been pushed over. I saw Nathaniel standing in the midst of this mess, looking around at everything. "What happened?" I asked him. He jumped when I said that. "Wha-!" When he saw me, he sighed with relief, "Oh, it's you." I looked at him and said "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Nathaniel just shook his head. "No, that's alright. So what did you say?" He smiled at me and I continued, "Oh, I was asking what happened here." He looked away and said, "I don't know. I was only out for a few minutes and when I came back, the door was wide open…..and NOW look at the mess I have to clean up." Nathaniel started lifting the desks back to a standing position. I walked over and said "Let me help you." as I lifted them up from the other side. He gave me that warm smile of his. "Thank you."

After everything had been picked up, I leaned up against one of the desks. "Whew, we're finally done." Nathaniel chuckled at that. Then I suddenly thought about something. "Hey, is anything missing?" He searched through all the papers and desks there. "No, I don't think anything's …" He trailed off. I looked at Nathaniel with concern. "What? What is it?" He continued searching. "Hm, that's odd. Where is it?" He seemed to be ignoring me. "Where is what? What's missing?" I asked him. Nathaniel turned to face me. "Your club registration form….it's not here." He searched around the room again. "Whoever was here probably stole it….but I don't see any reason why they would need to."

My eyes widened a little at that. I suddenly remembered what Castiel said earlier. * Enjoy your plants while you can, Slim, but I WILL get you back in basketball!* Nathaniel looked at me. "Is something wrong? Julia?" I suddenly snapped back into reality. "Uh, no. Nothing. Well, I should be going now." I turned to leave and started to walk away when Nathaniel grabbed my hand. "Hey, wait." I turned to face him and he said to me, "Thank you. Thank you so much for helping me. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." We looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Nathaniel held my face with his hand and leaned in closer..…and closer…..

*BAM* Castiel's fist slammed into Nathaniel's face, sending him flying across the room, crashing into the wall. "As IF I'd let you KISS HER!" Castiel grabbed my arm and dragged me out to the courtyard. He let go of me when we reached the tree. "What was THAT?! I go to the student council room to return your club form, and **I** find YOU making out with GOLDEN BOY!" he screamed at me. "I WASN'T MAKING OUT WITH HIM!" I screamed back. "Yeah, only because **I** showed up! I saw you, Julia, if **I** wasn't there, you WOULD be right now!" I just stood there and looked at him. I didn't really know what to say. There might have been some truth to what he just said. He looked back at me and shook his head angrily, saying "Didn't I tell you before?! He wants you, Julia…"

I remembered Castiel acting exactly like this at the park about a week ago. He was yelling at me, warning me about Nathaniel. "…..but I'm not gonna let him have you!" Castiel continued. "I won't allow it!" With that, he stomped off towards the school building with a crumpled up sheet of paper in his hand. "Julia!" Nathaniel stood outside the school door, a huge black bruise on his face where Castiel hit him. He walked towards me. "Julia, are you alri-" Castiel stopped Nathaniel in his tracks and pressed the paper against him. "There! Put Julia back in basketball, and you stay AWAY from her, got that?!" By now, it had gotten late. I suddenly spoke up. "I…I should go home now." Castiel walked towards me, saying "Good idea, Slim." He grabbed my hand as he passed by, pulling me with him. As we left the courtyard, I looked back at Nathaniel, who just stood there, staring at me with this 'How could you do this to me?' look.

Castiel pulled me in the direction of my apartment building. I looked at him and said, "Um…you know, you don't have to walk me home…" Castiel looked at me for a second, his eyes as gray as the sky. He looked away again and continued walking. With a sigh, he said "I don't know why you keep doing that, Slim. I'm **not** leaving." He squeezed my hand tighter, letting me know that he **meant** it.

As we approached my apartment building, Castiel grinned at me. "No excuses this time, Slim. I'm going with you to your apartment." I sighed, but said nothing as we walked the rest of the way there. Once there, I led him into the building and up to my apartment. Castiel was grinning the whole time. I unlocked the door and went inside. Castiel followed me in and looked around the room. I grinned at him. "Well? Is it everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?" He chuckled at that. "So this is where you live….it's nice, Slim." I smiled at him. "Thanks." He just stared at me for a moment, and I said "Um, do you wanna play some games or something?" Castiel ignored me and looked around again. "So…..it's just you here?" I was a little surprised at his question.

"What? No, I live with my parents…" He looked at me. "Then where are they? It's a little late for them to be out, isn't it?" I suddenly became nervous. *Uh-oh. What if he finds out my secret?* I thought to myself. *Wait, no. There's no way he could know that. I can always pull the 'parents on business trip' skit again.* "Well, you see, that's the thing. My parents ARE out. They're always out. On business trips…" Castiel continued to stare at me. "Hmm…." He looked away. It was obvious he wasn't buying it. I decided to speak again. "Yeah, you're right. It IS getting late, you should probably go home now. I walked up to him to show him the way out, but then... *BOOM* Thunder struck, and I could hear the rain pouring down. *Ugh…* Castiel grinned at me. "Looks like I'm not going anywhere, Slim." I sighed and sat down on the couch. Castiel sat down next to me.

"What's wrong? Am I bothering you?" he asked with a grin. To that, I replied, "No, nothing's wrong. So, you wanna watch a movie or something? I'll let you pick." Castiel watched as I got out all the movies I had. "Hmm, surprise me." I picked out a random Disney movie and placed it in the DVD player. I went and turned the lights off, and then sat back down. As it turned out, I picked "The Lion King". Castiel frowned at me. "Sorry, Slim. I don't like this movie." I scowled at him. "Fine, I'll change it." I got up to change the movie, but Castiel grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "Slim, I was just kidding. Don't be so serious all the time." he grinned at me.

I watched about half of the movie with Castiel, but I was just so exhausted from everything that happened earlier that day. Without really thinking, I leaned up against him. "Slim?" I could hear Castiel calling to me. I tried to say something, but all I could manage to reply was, "mmm…" and I instantly fell asleep.


	8. A New Friend?

The morning after that, I woke up in my room, my bed. *How did I get here? Ah, whatever. I'm too tired to care.* I just laid there and closed my eyes. I was about to fall asleep when I felt someone breathing on me. I looked behind me and saw Castiel laying right there next to me, sleeping, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. *How did I not notice that? And why is he still here?* I tried to pull away from him carefully so that I wouldn't wake him up, but as soon as I made the slightest move, I was yanked back towards him, effortlessly. "Mornin', Slim." Castiel whispered into my ear, grinning. I could feel myself blushing. "W-what are you doing here?!" Castiel chuckled. "Don't you remember, Slim? You invited me here yesterday." *Well, I didn't really INVITE you, you just sort of dragged me home.*

"Well, I didn't say you could SLEEP with me!" I shouted at him and sat up, finally managing to get his arm off me. Castiel grinned at me, saying "Hey, you're the one that fell asleep on ME, remember?" I suddenly remembered everything that happened the night before. I fell asleep on Castiel (literally), without even thinking. Castiel continued, "After you fell asleep, I turned off the movie and carried you to bed. It was storming out, and I wasn't gonna go through it just to get home. And…" I interrupted him, saying "And what? You HAD to fall asleep next to me?!" He just looked at me for a moment, then reached his hand out and held my face, leaning towards me. Grinning again, he said, "Slim….you're so cute when you're angry, you know that?" And before I could do or say anything, he leaned in all the way and gently pressed his lips against mine.

We just stayed there, Castiel holding me as close to him as possible. I was so shocked at first; I didn't know WHAT to think. I just closed my eyes and slowly wrapped my arms around him. After a few moments, I suddenly realized something. I quickly let go of Castiel. "What's wrong?" he asked me. "What time is it?!" I shouted, checking the time. 9 a.m. Castiel just sat there and watched as I scrambled to my feet and around the room. "I am SO gonna be late for school!" I continued to run around until Castiel grabbed my arm and yanked me back down onto the bed. "Slim." I looked up at him. "What?" "Today's Saturday." he continued, grinning at me. I started to calm down. "Oh…" That was all I could think to say. Castiel chuckled. "Silly girl." I felt REALLY stupid. How could I not know what day it was?

Suddenly, Castiel's cell phone started to go off. He picked it up and answered, "Yeah?" I stared at Castiel, wondering who he could be talking to. I could hear a faint voice on the other end, but I wasn't sure who it was or what they were saying. Castiel eventually spoke again. "Yeah, sure. I'll be right there." He looked at me for a second and then looked back. "Hey, can I uh….bring a friend?" I could've sworn I heard the person on the phone say, "No." Castiel just chuckled. "Too bad." He hung up and looked at me. "Get ready, Slim." I smiled and questioned him. "Where are we going?" He just grinned at me. "To meet a friend."

I was still in my school outfit from yesterday, so I got up and changed into a casual black T-shirt and jeans. I brushed my hair up into a neat ponytail and put my shoes on. Castiel didn't take long to get ready, all he had to do was fix his hair, get his shoes on, and throw on his leather jacket, and then we were out of there. I locked my apartment door behind me and exited the building with Castiel. He led me to a certain area in the park that I had never seen before. That might have been because I was still new here, but there weren't many other people there either. It was an open field with lots of room for playing and enjoying the outdoors. The trees surrounding it were very tall and had many leaves that covered the field, not letting much sunlight through. Standing there, in the middle of the field, was a tall boy who looked about my age. He had white hair with black streaks at the bottom, and wore clothes that looked like they came from the mid-1800s. The boy saw us and waved, gesturing for us to come over.

"Hey, Lysander. What's up?" Castiel greeted him. "Hey, Castiel…" The boy replied. He looked over at me and smiled. "Who's this?" Then, Castiel replied sarcastically, "I'm sorry, I thought you didn't WANT me to bring my friend." This 'Lysander' looked at him and said "You never told me you had a lady friend." He looked at me again with a smile. Castiel just chuckled. "Yeah, well don't get any ideas." 'Lysander' then said to me, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lysander. And to whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?" I was about to introduce myself when Castiel spoke for me. "Lysander, this is Sli-" I shot him an angry look. He sighed and corrected himself. "Julia. Her name is Julia." I smiled at him. *That's better.* Lysander continued, "Julia….that's such a pretty name. It's nice to meet you." Castiel gave Lysander a death stare, as if to say *Don't. You. Dare.* I turned to Lysander and smiled. "It's nice to meet you too, Lysander."

Castiel looked at me and grinned. "Slim, ya like music?" I looked back at him and replied. "Um…yeah, sure. Why?" "I'll be right back." He turned and walked off. "Ok." I said, and turned to Lysander who stood there and smiled at me. "Probably went off to get his guitar." I became a little confused. "Castiel plays? He never told me…" Lysander looked a bit surprised. "Oh, he didn't? I'm sorry; he was probably trying to surprise you. And now, I ruined it." He sighed and looked away, and then I said to him "No, it's ok, really. You didn't mean to. I guess I could always pretend to be surprised." "You know that won't work, Slim. I'd see right through you." Castiel said from right behind me, making me jump. I turned to him and shouted, "Y'know, I really SHOULD put a bell on you!" He just laughed. Lysander laughed a little as well.

I ignored them both and looked at the guitar that Castiel was holding. "So, you play?" I asked him. "Yep, and Lysander sings." he replied, grinning. I looked at Lysander and grinned too while crossing my arms. "You never told me that." Lysander shot an angry look at Castiel, who just shrugged and said "Hey, you ruin my secret, I ruin yours, buddy." I chuckled a little while covering my face, hoping that they wouldn't notice. "What's so funny, Slim?" Castiel crossed his arms, grinning at me again. *Darn, he noticed! .* "Uh, nothing…" I replied, feeling myself blush. Now they were both staring at me. After a few seconds, I finally spoke up. "So are you gonna play me a song or what?" Lysander suddenly snapped back into reality and said, "Ah yes, of course. Do you have any requests?" I thought about it for a minute. "Um….no, not really. Play anything you want." Castiel turned to Lysander. "Hey, why don't we play the new song we're workin on?" Lysander snapped back at Castiel, "No! We can't play that song in public until it's finished and released!" Castiel just smirked at him. "Oh, c'mon. It's just Slim here." He turned to me. "You won't tell anyone, right Slim?" Lysander turned to me as well. I smiled at them, replying "No, I won't tell anyone. I'll probably forget it anyways."

Lysander smiled back, but then turned to Castiel and said "It's not that I don't trust her…" but Castiel interrupted "Look, if you don't wanna sing, that's fine, but I'm still playing the music for her." Lysander opened his mouth to say something, but Castiel threw his guitar strap around himself and started playing before he got the chance. Regardless of what he just said, Lysander started singing to his song. His voice was clear, pure, and he expressed his emotions into every word. On the other hand, I was really surprised at how well Castiel could play the guitar. I mean, he could REALLY play, and his guitar solo was just amazing. Both boys were smiling at me the whole time, and the whole time, I kept smiling at both of them. It made me feel very special to be the only one who's ever heard their new song.

They stopped mid-song, explaining to me that 'that' was all they had written so far. "….and that's all we've written." Lysander said to me with a smile. "Well, that was great! I can't wait 'til it's finished." I replied, smiling back at him. Castiel, his guitar still strapped around him, waved his arms and sarcastically shouted "Hello!? Am I invisible to you guys, or what?" Lysander rolled his eyes while I laughed and said to Castiel "Yes, yes, we can see you! Not everything has to be about YOU, y'know!" He just chuckled and asked "So, what'd you think of my awesome guitar skills?" *Apparently, he's ignoring me. Lol XD* I looked at him and smiled. "I think they're amazing, Castiel. You've got some serious talent." He smiled back at me. "Thanks, Slim."

It had gotten very late by now. I turned to Castiel and Lysander. "Well, it's getting pretty late. I'm going home now. See you later." I looked over at Lysander and smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Lysander." I turned to leave and started towards my apartment. "Need me to walk you home?" Castiel asked, still smiling at me. "No, that's ok. My apartment isn't THAT far away from here." I replied, smiling back. "Ok then, I guess I'll just walk with Lysander. Goodnight, Slim." He turned and walked away. Lysander started to follow him, but then turned back to me and said "It was nice meeting you too." He handed me a slip of paper. "Give me a call if you need anything, ok?" He smiled at me. "Ok." I replied, smiling back. With a final glance, he said "Goodnight, Julia." and rushed off to catch up with Castiel.

I walked back to my apartment alone. I was very tired, and although I was hungry, I didn't feel like doing anything but sleep. As usual, I still couldn't get to sleep without thinking about the events of that day. I thought about how Castiel was acting that morning.* How does he really feel about me? Was the kiss just an act or was it real?* I also thought about what happened later that day. *I met a new boy named 'Lysander', and both him and Castiel revealed to me that they play music together.* I thought a little more about Lysander. *I'm almost positive he didn't want me to be there when he and Castiel were talking on the phone, but once he saw me in person, he suddenly became very nice to me. Not only that, he sang for me and gave me his number…..what does that mean?* I was going to think more, but I was so tired that I fell asleep right on that thought. Today had been a very looooooong day.


	9. Or Something More?

I spent all Sunday just relaxing for once. I had finally finished all the homework I'd been forced to procrastinate on, thanks to Castiel, so there was nothing left to do for that day, thank God. I just did whatever I felt like doing; drawing, writing, dancing, singing, watching TV, etc. And you know what? Since I had relaxed for the whole day, I felt MUCH better by the time I went to bed. And THEN, I thought about having to go to school the next day…man, did THAT ruin it! (DX)

I woke up Monday morning feeling relaxed, yet upset for having to go to school. Nevertheless, I got up and dressed, grabbed some breakfast, picked up my bag and made my way out the door. After a few minutes, I had finally reached my school courtyard. As I walked by the tree on my way into the school building, Castiel, who was still standing by it, noticed me. He grinned at me and said, "Hey, Slim. Didja miss me?" I couldn't help but chuckle at that, but then I turned to him and replied "No, shut up!" He started laughing as well and I just rolled my eyes and continued on my way to school.

I saw Nathaniel pass by me on the way to my locker. I smiled and waved at him. "Hi, Nathaniel!" He just glanced at me with that same look he had the other day, when Castiel dragged me away, and looked away again without saying a word. He looked hurt. *I should go apologize to him later…* I thought to myself as I continued on towards my locker. Once I had gotten there, I quickly gathered my books and headed off to class.

While my other classes were the same as usual, something in English class was different. Today, we were supposed to write something. Anything; a song, poem, story, etc. It could be about anything we wanted it to be. Apparently, the teacher wanted to show off his class, so once we were done writing, it would be graded and posted on the bulletin board right outside the classroom door. I was fairly confident in my writing skills, but even so, I didn't want anything I wrote to be posted out where the whole school could see it. Anyway, this is what I wrote:

*Even though I'm found in the midst of flowing time, I'm spinning round and round, and I feel like I'm losing my mind. And I can't even see my own heart that's leaving me. Why can't you even see what happened to me?

I cannot even sleep. I can't get myself to leave. I keep slipping through these cracks of everything that meant to me. I don't know anything about what happened to me. They tell me to be me, and that's who I should be.

Am I in a dream? Am I in reality? Are my words useless to you even if I choose to speak? I am tired of feeling all this broken misery. Maybe I should just go on without feeling anything.

Even if you give me words, I would never look for them. My heart will never ever pay you any attention. If you don't stay where you are, everything will change on me. Everything will go all dark. I'll be trapped eternally.

Will there be another day for a person just like me. Could I live here anyway? Could I live here happily? Can I live through all the pain? Could I live with misery? I will never be the same. I don't who I should be.

I can barely even walk. There is no way I could run. I don't understand at all. I can't talk to anyone. If I could change, I would try. Someone else I'd rather be. Everything would turn to light. I would finally be free.*

I wrote this because that was the way I felt. I felt this way ever since my parents' death, and regardless of my friends' efforts to cheer me up, there was no way I could forget something so cruel. With a sigh, I stood up and turned in my assignment to the teacher. He looked over it for a moment, and then mumbled "Hmm…..interesting…." I stood there at his desk until he finally finished reading and gave me a smile, saying "Great job, Julia. You may go now." I returned a smile of my own, and then collected the books from my desk and left the classroom. *Oh, God. What did he REALLY think? And to think, this is gonna be posted on the bulletin board. Ugh….*

I returned everything to my locker and met up with Iris and Ken at lunch. Nathaniel kept his distance; I could tell that he didn't want to talk to me. So, while Ken told me non-stop about cookies, and Iris told me non-stop about the gossip she'd been hearing, I just sat there and ate my food, pretending to listen. *Honestly, if they like talking THAT much, they should just talk to each other.* After I was done, I got up, threw away anything that was left and decided to go talk to someone who DIDN'T like talking that much.

I walked over to the empty table Nathaniel was still sitting at and sat down across from him. He looked at me for a moment and then continued to stare at the table. "What do you want?" I waited a moment before answering. "I…I wanted to apologize….for the other day." He looked up at me, still with that depressed look. I continued "I'm sorry Castiel threw you into the wall, and I'm sorry that I did nothing to help." I looked down at the table in shame. Nathaniel just shook his head and replied "No, that wasn't your fault. He dragged you out of the room before you even got the chance. What bothers me is that when I stood outside the school, calling for you, you did nothing. I know you heard me; you were looking right at me, so don't even try to tell me that you didn't. I tried walking over to you, but Castiel blocked me, and I could tell he wasn't gonna let me take even one more step towards you. And what did you do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! You just stood there with that sad look on your face, and then you LET him drag you away, as if I meant nothing to you!

I knew that I made him feel awful, but I was still surprised by his words. *If only I had known….* He continued, saying "I told you that I would protect you, and then you go and put your faith in HIM!" He took a moment to calm down. "I just don't understand. Why didn't you come to me?" All I could manage to say in reply was, "I'm sorry…..I'm so sorry….." but it was a little late for that. He was already mad at me, and I couldn't say that I blamed him. Then he stood up, saying "No, you know what? Just forget it." And then turned and walked away, leaving me to sit there alone, feeling terrible. *Serves me right….* I thought to myself. I just sat there for a moment and thought about what just happened. I then got up and left, still feeling terrible.

As I walked past my English class on the way to my locker, I noticed someone standing there outside the classroom, staring at one of the assignments posted on the bulletin board. He looked familiar; I knew I'd seen him before. I just couldn't remember where. *I know this guy….* As I walked towards him, I noticed that he was staring at MY poem. *Oh…kay…just back away slowly…..* I didn't care who the guy was at this point; I just wanted to get out of there, hoping he wouldn't notice me. I took a few steps back, then turned and started to walk away. "Oh, hello again." I had only taken a few steps when I heard someone calling out to me. I instantly stopped and turned around. The boy who was just staring at my poem was now looking at me, smiling. I recognized his face instantly. It was Lysander.

"Um….hi." I said in reply as I walked over towards him. Lysander looked up at my poem and then back at me. "Is this yours?" he asked, pointing to it. "No…..." I lied to him, not wanting him to know it belonged to me. He just chuckled and shook his head. "Well, I hate to break it to you….." He leaned in towards me and continued, "…..but it has your name on it." I could feel myself blushing. Lysander grinned at me and stood up straight again. "Oh…..well then…..yes, it IS mine." I said, trying (and failing) to get that smile off my face. He let out a small laugh and then looked up at my poem again. "Your poem is quite lovely though. I haven't seen this much emotion expressed into words for a long time. You have talent; I don't understand why anyone would be so embarrassed to share it with the world." He looked at me and I became a little nervous. Smiling, he said "Did you really think I didn't notice you trying to run away earlier?" *….That's what I was afraid of…..*

"Um….well….I just….I don't…" I started to say, but Lysander cut me off, saying "…want others to see it?" I looked at him, confused. He continued "Don't worry, I completely understand. I don't like nosy people either." I was about to say something in argument against him, but deep down, I knew he was right. The reason I didn't want my poem to be posted on the board is because I didn't want others to see it. Simple as that. I didn't really know what to say, so I stayed silent.

Suddenly, the bell rang and it was so loud, I nearly jumped. "Oh, I am SO gonna be late! I have to go. I'll see you later, Lysander!" I called out to him as I rushed off to my locker. I quickly gathered my things and sprinted as fast as I could to the classroom. By the time I sat down at my desk in class, I was so tired from running, I thought I would pass out. But hey, that's better than being late any day, right? Science class went on as usual, learning about the instincts of animals and how trees grow, and such. Even still, the whole time, I just kept thinking about my encounter with Lysander. I wondered to myself whether or not he really liked my poem. *He said I was talented. Was I really?* A million thoughts just like this kept popping into my head, and I couldn't do anything to stop them.

The rest of the day went by quickly, as usual. You see, in the time I've attended Sweet Amoris High, I noticed that the second half of the day's classes are much easier and they go by faster than those in the first. (Thank God.) Lysander smiled at me whenever I passed by while Nathaniel did his best to avoid me. And of course, I never saw Castiel because he was standing out by that tree in front, as always. Anyway, school was over. I was standing at my locker, putting everything away when someone came up from behind me and put their hands over my eyes.

"Guess who." I already knew who it was, but I didn't want to play his little game. "Get your hands off me." I replied, trying (and failing) to pull away. "No, not 'til you guess." This 'mystery guy' wouldn't give up. I sighed and said "Ok, um….Nathaniel?...No, you don't sound blonde." He just laughed, saying "Ok Slim, HOW can someone sound blonde?" Then I started laughing and replied "I don't know, it could happen." Still laughing, he said "Ok then, let's just say for the time being, it's not NORMAL to sound blonde. Try again." I was also still laughing. "Ok, ok. I think this 'blonde' joke has gone far enough. Hmm…..then, are you…..Ken?" "Do I sound anything like Ken?" he questioned me. I smiled, saying "No, no, you're right, you don't sound like you have brown hair either." We both started laughing again, and he said "What is it with you, Slim? Honestly. You CAN'T hear the color of peoples' hair."

"Well then, are you Lysander?" He stayed silent for a moment, and then said "No. Lysander doesn't even go to this school." I became a little confused and replied "Yes, he does. I just saw him earlier." "Really? He never told me….." After a few seconds, I tried pulling his hands off again. "C'mon, let me go." "No." "Why not?" "Cause you still didn't guess who I am." I was done playing around now. "Let me go, Castiel." He let go and grinned at me. "Geez Slim, what took ya so long?" I just started laughing and he laughed along with me as we exited the school building.

"Let's go, Slim. We've got basketball practice today. Or did you 'forget' again?" Castiel grinned at me. I looked up at him "I swear, I DID forget last time! I wasn't trying to skip out on you or anything! And no, I didn't forget this time, so shut it." He just laughed and ruffled my hair. "Oh, Slim." I slapped his hand away. "Don't do that!" "Do what? This?" Castiel reached out and ruffled my hair again, and I slapped his hand away again. "Stop that!" He laughed, asking "Why? Does it bother you?" and ruffled my hair AGAIN! "Stop it!" I shouted at him, slapping his hand away yet AGAIN! "Alright, calm down, Slim. And try not to get yourself trampled again, that's just embarrassing." Castiel said to me, smiling sarcastically. "You don't think I KNOW that? I'll try, but I make no promises!" He just shook his head and chuckled.

And of course, I got trampled again. I was tall enough to be good at basketball, but with my thin build, I just wasn't cut out for sports. After the game was over, I went and sat on the bench. I needed to rest for a few minutes; I was really sore from playing. Castiel sat down next to me. "Again, Slim? I told you not to get trampled." He was shaking his head. I looked over at him and replied "Yeah, and I told YOU I made no promises!" I waited a second or two for him to say something, but he stayed silent. I continued "And it's easy for YOU to say, you're built for this game!" He just sighed and said "You just have to learn. C'mon, I'll teach you." *Ugh….* I rolled my eyes and walked back over to the court. Like last time, I spent about an hour trying and failing at getting around Castiel and shooting a basket. "Ok, I'm done." I finally spoke up. "No you're not." Castiel replied. "Yes, I am." I said again, walking towards the door. "No, you're not. Get back here." He followed me. "No." I continued walking. "Slim!" "No!" I made my way out the door.

Once outside, I saw Lysander sitting on a bench. He looked up and saw me. "Oh, hello, Julia. I thought you left already." *…..deja vu?* "Hi, Lysander." I walked over to him. I noticed that he was holding a journal that, like his clothing, looked like it was from the mid-1800s. "What is that?" I asked him. "Oh…nothing. It's just a journal that I like to keep my poems and songs in." he replied. "Oh, really? That's cool. Can I see one?" I looked over at the journal, and tried to read it, but Lysander quickly snapped it shut before I could see anything. "No." I looked at him. "Oh…well, why not?" He just sighed and said "I told you, I DON'T like nosy people. You forget too easily." Lysander's tone was different from before. In school, he was so nice…but now, he was so…I didn't understand. "Slim! Where are you? Get back here!" Castiel walked over and found us. "There you are! C'mon, we're leaving!" he started towards me, but then stopped when he saw Lysander sitting there on the bench.

"Lysander? Since when do YOU go to this school?" To that, Lysander replied "I just transferred here today. I needed a change of scenery. And besides, my best friend is here." He said this in that same nice tone he used with me earlier. "Yeah, well that didn't matter before, now did it? You just started going here today, right after you met Slim." Castiel questioned him. Lysander stayed silent, and Castiel continued "Oh my God….you want Slim!" Castiel grabbed my arm and dragged me away, calling out to Lysander "Well, tough luck, buddy! She's MINE!" I was a little shocked by his words. *His?* I didn't know what to say to that. I looked back at Lysander, who just sat there, grinning at me. He mouthed the words "Call me." and then air-kissed me. I was shocked. At both of them. Castiel dragged me all the way up to my apartment. He wouldn't let go until he was sure I'd be safe. He turned to leave and started to walk away, but then stopped and turned his head to tell me "Slim…..Stay away from Lysander." And then he left, nothing else was said.

I stayed awake all night that night. I couldn't eat or sleep. I couldn't even concentrate on my homework. I was just so confused. I didn't know whether to call Lysander or stay away from him like Castiel said. Why did Castiel say I was his? Does he think we're dating? We only kissed once! I kind of felt like calling Nathaniel, but I didn't know his number. And even if I did, he probably wouldn't answer. *What have I gotten myself into?* That was my final thought before passing out.


	10. More Complications!

Over the next week or so, life continued as normal. I continued going to school every day and hung out with my friends. I questioned Castiel about the whole "I'm his" thing, but he would just blush and change the topic every time I brought it up. It was almost as if he wanted me to forget about it, but that just left me wondering even more. Nathaniel had finally started talking to me again. We just kept passing by each other in the hallway, the cafeteria, the library, etc., and we both knew it was gonna stay like that, so we might as well have started being friends again. I stayed FAR away from Lysander though. I didn't know him all that well; he's nice around other people, but from what I'd seen, I didn't know WHAT he'd do if he ever got the chance to be alone with me. So, I decided to take Castiel's advice. I never called him, I always avoided him when we passed by each other in the hallway, and I never even spoke a word to him.

Today was just another day. "Hey, Slim." Castiel greeted me with that sarcastic smile of his as I crossed the courtyard on my way to school. "Hey, Castiel." I replied, smiling back at him. *Wow, he's actually giving me the time of day to say 'hi' now! XD* I thought to myself as I made my way into the school. My morning classes went by as usual; boring lessons and ALL the homework that came with them. And as usual, I was so relieved once they were over. I returned everything to my locker and started towards the cafeteria for lunch. However, I had so many thoughts on my mind from all the homework that was given, and I wasn't really paying attention. I turned a corner and….*BAM!* I was on the ground. I knew I had bumped into someone again. I thought it was Amber and her friends, but when I looked up, I saw Lysander looking down at me, a look of irritation on his face.

I quickly stood up. "I'm sorry…." I apologized, refusing to look at him. I tried to walk around him, but he stepped to the side, blocking my path. Before I could do anything, he grabbed both my wrists and pushed me up against the wall. No one was around to see it, because everyone was at lunch. I suddenly got really scared; I didn't dare look at him. Lysander finally spoke. "You're avoiding me. I'd like to know why." Still looking away, scared out of my mind, I started to say "W-What? I'm not-" but he interrupted "Yes. You are. I know you ar-Look at me." He tilted my chin up with his hand, forcing me to look at him. His face was only inches from mine, and I could feel myself blushing. I tried to look away again, but he wouldn't let me. "See? You ARE avoiding me. THAT needs to stop." I didn't really know what to say; I was just so scared. "P-Please stop. You're scaring me…." Lysander grinned at me. "Really? I couldn't imagine why…" He leaned to the side and slowly ran his tongue up the side of my neck. I closed my eyes, "Mm…" He softly bit me, finishing off. Lysander looked at me again and said, "I want you to call me every night. And don't EVER avoid me like that again. Do you understand me?" I nodded, too shocked to speak. He grinned and pressed his lips against mine. "I'll see you later, darling." Lysander stood up and walked away, leaving me standing there, shocked. Well, I was shocked, confused; I didn't know WHAT I was. Too many emotions were running through me, and I couldn't think straight. *What just happened?!*

After I snapped out of…whatever I was just in, I had finally arrived at the cafeteria. As usual, Iris waved frantically at a table across the room, motioning me to sit with her. *Yes Iris, I know. I can see you….* I got my food and walked over to the table. As I sat down, she began her daily rant about 'who did what' and 'who's seeing who'. Of course, I wasn't listening to a word of it. I was too caught up in my thoughts about what happened just before lunch. What was Lysander trying to pull here? Did he think I was HIS? *Oh…..no…..* I was starting to see a pattern. "Julia!" Someone shouted my name. I nearly jumped. "Wha-?!" I looked over to see Nathaniel sitting next to me where Iris was just now. "Oh. Hi, Nathaniel. Where's Iris?" Nathaniel had a concerned look on his face. "She left minutes ago. You didn't see her?" When I didn't answer, his look of concern turned into worry. "Julia, are you ok? What's wrong?" "Nothing….." I replied, and quickly finished my food. By now, everyone had left and I wanted to get out of there before Nathaniel spoke again.

I got up and rushed off to throw my trash away, but of course I was too late. Nathaniel got up and followed me, saying "You know I won't buy that. Tell me what's wrong." I didn't say a word, but instead threw everything away and headed for the door. Nathaniel saw me and blocked my escape. "Julia, tell me. Did someone hurt you?" I looked at him. "No." Nathaniel sighed and shook his head. "I know someone did SOMETHING to you….and I'm gonna find out who and what." I said nothing, just stared at him, holding back tears. He looked at me, and put his hand up to hold my face. "Julia…..I would never let anyone hurt you. You mean too much to me." He leaned in towards me, closer and closer until I could feel his lips gently touching my own. His kiss was so…warm and passionate. Unlike Castiel's, whose was more of a joke, (At least, I think it was….) and definitely unlike Lysander's, whose was forced onto me. I slowly closed my eyes and just enjoyed the moment. After it was over, I said to Nathaniel "Um…..I should go….." and tried to walk away, but he tightened his grip, pulling me back towards him. Blushing, he said "Wait. Please….stay." He just held me there in his arms "O-Ok…" I replied silently, resting up against him. *So warm….*

After a minute or two, Nathaniel and I finally let go of each other. (It's a good thing too; he was so warm, I thought I'd fall asleep in his arms. –w–) By that time, we were both very late to class, so we got detention for an hour. Just enough time to miss basketball practice with Castiel. Great. *Maybe he won't even notice I'm gone…...oh, who am I kidding? He is SO gonna kill me…..* The rest of my classes passed by in an instant, as usual. Nathaniel and I walked to detention together. "Don't worry," he said, smiling at me. "It'll be over before you know it." I smiled back at him. "That's good." Though, I didn't really care either way. Even if I DIDN'T have detention, I would just be spending that time in the gym, getting trampled on by other students. At least here, I would have time to do my homework or think about what happened that day; useful things. I ended up doing both. Simultaneously. And a lot of good THAT did me. It put on stress, which made me confused, which made me frustrated. Thank God Nathaniel was there to help me, or I wouldn't have gotten ANYTHING done!

As it turned out, Nathaniel was right. Detention was over before I even realized it. I said goodbye to Nathaniel in the hallway after he walked me out of the classroom, and started towards the exit. As I walked across the courtyard on my way home, I noticed that Castiel wasn't standing by the tree. *He's probably still in practice.* I thought to myself. *Though, it should be ending soon.* And sure enough, not long after that, I saw the students from basketball practice coming out of the gym.

I had just stepped onto the sidewalk border-lining the courtyard when someone grabbed my arm. "Hey!" I turned to see Castiel with an angry look on his face. *…..knew it….* "Why weren't you in practice today?! You tryin to bail on me again?!" I became a little irritated. "No! I'm NOT tryin to bail on you, I got detention." He calmed down a little and crossed his arms. "You? Detention? What'd you do, Slim?" To that, I replied "I was late for class." "Hmm…." Castiel just stared at me for a moment. "Nope, sorry. Not buyin it." I suddenly became angry. "What? But I was!" Then Castiel became irritated. "Yeah? And HOW? You're never late for class; this isn't like you." I stayed silent for a moment. I couldn't just TELL him Nathaniel kissed me. Like he would believe HIM of ALL people would make me late anyway. I decided to tell him the half-true reason. "I was lost in my thoughts." Almost as soon as I said that, he shot back at me "And what were you thinkin about, Slim?" Again, I told him the half-truth. "School." He shook his head. "You're lying." I sighed and said to Castiel, "Fine, don't believe me." With that, I turned and started walking towards my apartment.

"It's another guy, isn't it?!" Castiel called out from behind me. I instantly stopped and waited a second before turning to face him. "No! It's not another guy!" Although, that WAS a lie. I turned back and started walking home again, but he walked up from behind me and grabbed my arm, turning me to face him. "You're lying to me! Who is it?!" "No one!" I shouted at him. "Why do YOU care anyway?!" Castiel stayed silent. "Oh, wait. Let me guess. Because I'm YOURS, right?!" He just shook his head. "Let's go!" He grabbed my hand and dragged my back to my apartment. It seemed that every time another guy was involved, Castiel felt the need to walk me home. After a few minutes, we had finally reached my apartment door. I unlocked the door and went inside. "Thanks for walking me home. Goodnight, Castiel." I said to him as I started to close the door. Castiel put his hand up against the door, stopping it from closing any further. I became a little nervous when he didn't say anything. "Cas-mph!" Before I even knew it, Castiel's lips were pressed against my own, him holding my face with one hand, the other tightly wrapped around my waist.

As soon as he broke the kiss, I tried to back away, but he only tightened his grip, and instead, kissed me two more times before finally letting go. I stared at him, blushing, but said nothing as I tried to catch my breath. "Slim," he said to me. "I'm gonna find this guy you're seein'. And when I do…." Castiel clenched his fists so hard, his knuckles turned white. "….I'LL KILL HIM!" He turned and stomped off, filled with rage. I quickly went back inside my apartment and closed the door. I immediately slid to the floor, terrified. I had never seen Castiel this angry, and there was no telling what he was gonna do.

That night, I couldn't fall asleep at ALL! Too many thoughts consumed my head; I eventually gave up. And then I had just remembered something. Lysander wanted me to call him. Since I couldn't fall asleep and would hate to think of what he'd do if I DIDN'T call him, I picked up the phone and dialed his number. It rang two or three times before I finally heard a voice on the other end. "Darling." My eyes widened a bit. How did he know it was me? "I was starting to think you'd never call." I stayed quiet for a moment before speaking. "H-hi Lysander." I replied nervously. "What's the matter, dear? You sound nervous…" *Was it THAT noticeable?* "Um, nothing. I'm just tired….." My excuse was believable, after all, it was already 2 a.m. "…..Do you need me?" I was a little surprised by his question.

"What?"

"I can come over if you want me to."

"Now?!"

"If you're scared….."

"I'm not scared….."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine. Thank you though."

"Hmm…alright then. Goodnight, darling. Sweet Dreams."

"Goodnight."

And then I hung up. I laid back down onto the bed and tried to fall asleep, but unfortunately, my little phone conversation with Lysander only made things worse. Just because of that, so many more thoughts were added to my already-exploding brain. Thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts. Everywhere. *Lysander is calling me 'darling' as if he thinks I'm his! And what about Nathaniel? He kissed me and then asked me to stay. Does THAT mean HE thinks I'm HIS? And thinking it meant something else, I said yes! I'm such an idiot! And Castiel is really going to kill both of them, because HE is determined that I'm HIS! They all think I belong to them! Why does everything have to be this way?! What did I ever do to deserve this?! WHY does EVERYTHING have to BE SO COMPLICATED?!* I was so upset, I couldn't fall asleep until 4 a.m., when I finally passed out from exhaustion. *Thank. God.*


	11. Strange Days Lead to Regretful Nights

I was nearly shaking as I walked across the courtyard the next day. I had never been so nervous about going to school in my life. Well, not really about GOING to school; more about the problems I'd have. With Castiel. With Nathaniel. With Lysander. I just wasn't ready to face all of them at once. What would I say to them? 'Hey guys, I'm dating all three of you at once and there's nothing you can do about it?' No, I'd have to do something about this. But what? And how? *Ugh, this is gonna be a VERY long day….* With a sigh, I walked through the front doors of the school and started towards my locker.

I had only taken a few steps when suddenly, I froze. The very thing I had least expected to see appeared right before my eyes. Right there..…..in front of me…..was Castiel…...standing….at his locker….with books in his arm. *O.O What?!* Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen him at the tree earlier. He closed the locker and took one look at me, then walked away without a word. *Um…ok.* After a few seconds, I snapped out of my daze and continued on towards my locker. Once there, I gathered everything needed and headed off to class. As it turned out, Castiel and I had the same class together, and while I sat at my usual spot in the second row, he sat all the way in the back. As the teacher gave us his daily speech on the history of our nation, I looked back for a moment; just out of curiosity. From the look on his face, I could tell he wasn't taking in any of this, but then again, he didn't seem to care either. He just sat there, staring blankly at his paper. I thought it was a little odd, but I guess that's just typical behavior of him.

Somehow, the rest of my morning classes were also with Castiel. And every time, he would just sit in the back with that blank stare on his face, while I did my best to focus on class. But how could I? I mean, if he felt the same way about coming to school as usual, why did he do it? That same question ran through my mind until I couldn't even think straight anymore. However, by the time that happened, it was already lunchtime. *Thank God.* On the way to the cafeteria, I passed by Castiel, who was putting everything back into his locker. I know he saw me pass by, and yet he pretended like he didn't and just ignored me altogether. Just like this morning. *…..What's going on with him?* I didn't try to speak with him either; I had nothing to say. So, I continued on my way, not even bothering to look at Castiel.

I hadn't gotten much further when Nathaniel spotted me from down the hallway. I smiled and waved. He returned my smile and walked towards me. "Hello Julia. How are you today?" "I'm fine, how are you?" Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Castiel walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Of course, I paid no attention to him, whatsoever. Nathaniel replied "I'm doing well, thank you." I just smiled at him. "Well, I should be going now. I'll see you later, Julia." I waited until Castiel vanished around the corner before replying "Ok. See you later." Nathaniel smiled and walked away. I started in the direction of the cafeteria again, but after a few steps, I stopped. *Wait…Castiel went this way. I don't really want to see him right now.* I turned, taking a different route than usual.

As always, I sat right next to Iris during lunch. I tried to enjoy my meal as much as I could, but with her constant talking, I was doomed to annoyance. It's not that I didn't want to listen; I really did, but she talks so much that it just wasn't possible. Out of complete boredom, and for no reason otherwise, I decided to look around the room. (I do that sometimes.) During my little 'search', I spotted Castiel sitting at a table all the way across the room by himself. "Strange, isn't it? He usually doesn't come to school." I nearly jumped. I turned to see Iris smiling at me. "Sorry if I scared you, but you know, you really shouldn't stare at people like that." I hadn't even realized I was staring at Castiel. As far as I knew, I'd only looked at him for a few seconds. "Sorry…." I apologized quietly. "I don't blame you though, he never comes to school…." Iris stared at me, as if she thought I knew something. "I don't know anything, Iris. I have no idea why he's here. Honestly." She just grinned at me. "Uh-huh. Well, I gotta get goin'. Class is gonna start soon." With that, she stood up and left the cafeteria. I sighed and finished what was left of my food and threw the rest away before leaving as well.

Only two of my afternoon classes were with Castiel; one of them right after lunch, and the other at the end of the day. Both, in which, he did the same thing as this morning; nothing but blank stares. Sometimes, I couldn't help but feel as if he was staring at me. I knew he wasn't, but….it still felt weird somehow. It was as if those piercing gray eyes of his were staring right into my soul. *-.-* That's why the classes in between those two were considered as 'breaks' for me. Because regardless of the endless amount of homework that the teachers usually gave me, at least I didn't get that 'being watched' feeling that Castiel gave me. I was so relieved by the time my last class was over. Now I would get to go home and enjoy the rest of my day without ANYONE bothering me. *Yes! -w-* As I walked towards the exit, I saw Lysander walking in my direction. *…..No! -.-* I didn't want to appear as if I was avoiding him, so I smiled and waved at him. *Hand gestures are better than nothing, right?* Of course though, he smiled back and came up to me.

"Hi Julia. How are you?" And of course, I kept my smile and replied "I'm good. How are you?" "I'm fine." Lysander smiled and walked away. Only then did I begin to notice something. *Odd. Even with all these people around, Lysander would've done something more than just ask how I'm doing. No, the Lysander I know would've hugged me or given me a peck on the cheek or something.* I started towards the exit again. *Wait…..Nathaniel was acting a little bit differently too. I mean, he was acting like himself; all nice and sweet; but even so, he should've said a little more to me than 'Hi, how are you?'. And Castiel actually came to school today, but he'd been avoiding me all day.* By the time I had thought all of this, I was already walking along the sidewalk on my way home. I knew I didn't have basketball practice that day, so there was no need worrying about Castiel; in that way, at least. That same thought kept repeating itself over and over the whole way home. I had just reached my apartment building when I finally decided, *Something's up.*

I started my homework as soon as I got home. After all, the pile of work wasn't gonna do itself. However, I just couldn't stop thinking about what happened that day, and the more I tried to concentrate on my homework, the more I kept thinking about it. I finally became so frustrated that I just gave up on my homework altogether and threw myself onto the couch, trying to sort this whole thing out. *Well, let's see…Castiel came to school today. Why would that be? Was there anything he did or said, telling me that-* And then I remembered. *"Slim, I'm gonna find this guy you're seein'…."* He said he'd find him…..and to do that…he would need to….. My eyes suddenly widened. *Castiel was spying on me!* That was just it. It had to be! That was the only conclusion that made sense. *Almost everywhere I went in school today, Castiel was there. Far distance, but there, nonetheless. He was probably listening in on my conversations with Nathaniel and Lysander, trying to catch them 'making a move' on me! They must've noticed too, and that's why they didn't try anything today!* I let out a groan and closed my eyes. I had figured it out, but now I was even more upset. Suddenly, I heard a knock at my door. I sighed and got up, walking over to open it. *It's probably Castiel…* I thought to myself, but when I opened the door, I saw…..Lysander? I instantly froze. "Hello, Darling."

I just stood there and stared at him for a moment; how did he know where I live? Lysander grinned and let himself in, closing the door behind him. "I missed you." he said softly, walking towards me. He held out his hand to stroke my face, then leaned in and kissed me. His lips were so soft and gentle against my own; I almost wished it would never end. When he finally let go, I finally managed to speak again. "What are you doing here?!" Lysander looked at me for a moment and started stroking my hair. "I needed to see you." I looked back at him confused. "Why?" He just frowned. "I couldn't really talk to you earlier today. I think you know why." *Is he talking about—agh!* He pushed me onto the couch and climbed on top, pinning me down. "He can't push me away from you forever…." Lysander leaned down and started kissing me slowly, his hands moving from my wrists and instead, gently caressing my face as he did so. I couldn't help but blush; this was the most attention I'd ever received from a boy.

I felt him slide from my lips to my neck. He started sucking…."Mm…."….and licking….."Uhn….."…..and softly biting….."Ngh…." It was only then that I realized that what I was doing was wrong. *Unh…I have to…..stop this….before it…goes any further….* I put a hand up on Lysander, pushing him lightly. He stopped what he was doing and came back up to my face. "Is something wrong?" I looked at him with sad eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry, but…I can't do this." He stayed silent for a moment before replying, "It's ok; I understand. I'm sorry." He got up and headed towards the door. I followed and held it open for him. Before he left, he turned to me. "Goodnight, Darling. I'll see you tomorrow." Lysander held my face and leaned in, kissing me one last time. I watched as he walked away, and then closed the door behind him.

As soon as I got back to my homework, my stomach started growling.* I guess I hadn't realized how hungry I was.* I got up and made a quick meal for myself, and then finished my homework afterwards. That night, I was exhausted, but I STILL couldn't fall asleep. As you may have guessed by now, I had tons of thoughts going through my head. Thoughts about school and homework. Thoughts about Castiel and how he was spying on me. And then, thoughts about Lysander. What he'd done; no; what I'd LET him do, and what he'd do next. I touched the spot on my neck where Lysander was….doing things. I felt pain. Not too sharp, but it wasn't exactly dull either. I quickly threw myself out of bed, turned the lights on and looked in the mirror. A black bruise of noticeable size had appeared right where his mouth was. I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth as tears rapidly started filling my eyes. *…What have I done?!*


	12. Epic Fail!

The day after that, I woke up feeling not much better than the day before. Sure, most of the pain went away, but the bruise remained as a reminder of last night, something I desperately wanted to forget. *How could I have been so careless?!* That's what I wanted to know. *I should've known better! Stupid!* I thought to myself, smacking my forehead; although, I knew it wouldn't do me any good. *There's gotta be some way to cover this up.* I searched my room frantically for something that could help, but of course, I didn't own anything of use to me. *Ugh!* After pacing around the room a little while more, I stopped in front of the mirror. *Hmm….* I took out my hair-tie and let my hair down, then brushed it all nice and neat. *…..There. Now it's all covered up. ^w^* Although my little 'disguise' wasn't exactly 'perfect', it was the only option I had. So, I got ready for school and left the apartment. *Here we go….*

This time, I actually NOTICED that Castiel wasn't standing by his tree. (Yeah, it's HIS tree. w) I figured he'd try and spy on me again, since he wasn't so successful yesterday. And I was right. The first thing I saw when I walked through the front doors of the school was Castiel, standing at his locker again. As soon as he saw me, he looked at me for a moment; as if he never saw my hair down before. Even so, after a few seconds, he closed his locker and left, heading towards class. Just like yesterday. I rolled my eyes. *You're not that subtle, you know.* Anyway, I got everything from my locker and went to class as well. As I expected, all the morning classes were just like yesterday. Castiel just sat there in the back, paying no attention to class whatsoever. And after class, Lysander and Nathaniel, although they also stared at my hair for a moment or two, made little-to-no contact with me whatsoever. And that was fine with me. The only thing that really surprised me was how little time it took for me to get used to being spied on. *It's just a normal day, nothing more…*

At lunch, I sat with Iris (again). She looked at my hair for a moment, stroking it a little. *Is my hair REALLY that unnatural?! .* "Aww Julia, your hair's so pretty! You should wear it like this more often." *….Oh, alright. I'll let it slide…for now. =.=* "Thanks Iris." I replied with a smile, which she returned; saying, "Well, SOMEONE seems happy today!" I looked at her, surprised. "I do?" She just kept smiling, completely ignoring me. But now that I thought about it, I WAS feeling happy today. I had no idea why though. I mean, I have a huge bruise and HUGE problems; yet, I felt happier than usual. Suddenly, Iris spoke again; snapping me out of my daze. "Hey, tell me something. I've noticed that the boys don't seem to be hanging around you as much. What'd you do?"

I looked at her, faking a look of confusion. "What? Me? I didn't do anything." "Well, you got Castiel to come to school. How?" Almost as soon as she said that, I shot back without thinking, "Oh believe me, that WASN'T on purpose!" Iris grinned at me. "Ohhh, so you DID do something?" I suddenly became nervous. I mean, I couldn't just TELL her that Castiel was spying on me. Iris wouldn't be able to keep my secret; I knew that better than **anyone**. "Oh….um, I-I-" I started to say, but Iris interrupted "Well good for you!" Now I was REALLY confused. "Huh?" She just smiled and continued "Whaddaya mean, 'huh?' You finally found a way to get 'em off your back! No wonder you're so happy~!" She ruffled my hair, and then stood up and left. *Argh, Iris! Don't touch my hair! .* Though, it didn't take long before I realized she was right. I mean, sure, I still had problems with the boys to deal with, but ever since Castiel came to school, the other boys have been staying away as much as possible. And of course, since Castiel was supposed to be 'secretly' spying, he wasn't gonna come near me either. I finally had some room to breathe. School had become a safe haven for me, and (although I felt a little guilty for doing so,) I was loving it.

Even though I was swamped with homework during the last classes of my school, I didn't mind one bit. I was already used to the amount of homework the teachers gave me; now I was focusing more on my new-found freedom (at school anyway). Before long, I found myself spending all my class time with this unnaturally happy grin on my face. No one could've stopped me from smiling if they tried; I was THAT happy. (AND I was glad that Castiel sat behind me. THAT way, he couldn't see my face! X3) It wasn't until the end of the day, as I walked towards the exit of the school, that I realized I had basketball practice that day. With Castiel. My mood instantly dropped. *Happiness just…..hates me I think. -.-* With a sigh, I started towards the gym. My thoughts consumed my head the whole way there. *Wait, since he's spying on me, maybe he won't talk to me during practice.* I hoped to God that he wouldn't. *No, he won't talk to me. He won't…..* That was all I had time to think; before I knew it, I was already there.*Alright…let's get this over with…*

I got trampled by every other student there, as usual. Never made a single basket, but that was fine. I didn't really care either way; I just wanted to go home. By the time the game finally ended, I was MORE than ready to burst out the gym doors and sprint home; never looking back. However, as I turned to leave, I noticed Castiel standing there across the room. He staring right at me, as if he was gonna tackle me if I tried **anything**. I didn't care though. I turned and started towards the exit, walking as fast as I could. However, as I did so, my hair bounced in all directions; revealing small glimpses of the bruise. Without even noticing, I continued walking; I just wanted to get out of there. I was almost at the door *Almost there….* when someone grabbed my hand. "What was THAT?!"I looked back to see Castiel, staring at me with those cold, dark gray eyes of his. "What was what?!" I shouted back at him. He yanked me towards him and moved my hair out of the way, completely revealing the bruise. He took one look at it and froze. The look on his face was just so….shocked. *Oh no….*

"You lied to me….YOU LIED TO ME! I KNEW IT! You ARE seeing someone else!" I was now the frozen one. "Who is it?! TELL ME!" he continued, firmly grasping my shoulders in his hands. I just stayed silent. Right now, I was too scared to say anything. I mean, could I just tell him that it was Lysander? If I did that, what would Lysander say? "Answer. Me. Slim." Castiel was getting impatient now. I knew I had to say SOMETHING. I just wasn't sure how to tell him….. "Fine. If you won't tell me WHO did it, tell me HOW it happened." He calmed down a little. I finally managed to speak again. "Okay…..well, it happened yesterday…..after school. I was at my apartment, and…." I hesitated for a moment. "Go on….." Castiel gestured me to tell the rest. "Lysander showed up." I muttered, forcing the words out of me. As soon as I mentioned Lysander's name, Castiel rushed off, filled with rage. Just like the other day. *He tricked me! He used that 'tell me HOW' trick just to get me to tell him WHO it was….!* Even though I was a little angry with him for that, I was a little more concerned about what he'd do to Lysander. After all, Castiel was strong; he proved it to me, time and time again. There's no telling what he could do. Having thought this, I instantly turned and rushed off after him. However, I wasn't **nearly** as fast as he was; it took a while for me to catch up.

Unfortunately, I got to the main school building a little too late. I burst through the front doors, only to see Castiel grab Lysander and slam him up against the lockers. "YOU! I thought I made myself clear; she's MINE! Stay AWAY from her!" Lysander remained calm. "What are you talking about?" However, his calm attitude only made Castiel even MORE enraged. "Don't' play dumb with me! I KNOW you went to her house yesterday!" Lysander still didn't become angry. "I did no such thing." It was then that Castiel noticed me standing there. He furiously stomped over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me back over to where he was. "Then what's THIS?!" He lifted my hair up, letting Lysander see the bruise he'd inflicted.

Suddenly, his calmness was replaced with deep concern and worry. After all, he didn't know I even HAD that bruise in the first place; it had only just appeared long AFTER he left. He reached his hand out to touch it, but Castiel quickly grabbed hold of him and slammed his fist into Lysander's face as hard as he could, knocking him back against the lockers. "Don't you DARE touch her! Don't EVER touch her AGAIN! In fact, don't even TALK to her! If I even SEE you with her….!" Just like that, Castiel grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the exit. As we left, I turned my head to look at Lysander, only to find him looking at me as well. He now had a black eye and a bloody nose; some part of me, while he WAS the one who gave me that bruise, felt sorry for him. He just grinned at me with that everlasting confidence of his and walked away. As he did so, I could hear a faint voice, saying "You haven't won YET, Castiel. You just wait….."

Castiel said nothing the whole way back to my apartment. We had just reached my apartment door when he finally spoke. "Slim…..stay AWAY from Lysander. I **mean** it." He started walking away, but then stopped and spoke again. "And if ANYONE'S gonna be givin' you one of those...it's gonna be **me**." With that, he left me there, feeling…..I don't even know what. Too many emotions. Wanting nothing more than to relax, I ran into my apartment and immediately collapsed onto the couch. I was too exhausted to even THINK about starting my homework. Suddenly, my phone began to ring. I took it out and looked at the caller ID: **Lysander**. After Castiel's warning, I wasn't too comfortable with the idea of answering it. Then again, I was still too tired to care; I just laid there on the couch and ignored the call. He tried calling two more times after that, but I ignored those as well. To tell the truth, I wasn't really in the mood to talk to him either. Then, my phone rang AGAIN. I was getting really annoyed now. I furiously picked up the phone to tell Lysander to knock it off, but when I looked at the caller ID again, it said… **Unknown**. Out of curiosity, I picked it up. "Hello?" On the other end, I heard someone reply "Hi Julia. It's Nathaniel."

"….Nathaniel? How did you get my number?" He hesitated a moment before replying "I….got it from Iris." I became a little confused. "…..But, I never gave my number to Iris." He started to sound nervous when saying, "Are you sure?" I couldn't help but laugh at his question. "Yeah, I'm sure. Trust me; if I DID give my number to Iris, she'd be calling me 24/7." Nathaniel laughed. "Oh, ok. Well, I was calling to ask if you wanted to go to the park with me this weekend." I thought about it for a moment. *Well, it's not like I have anything better to do this weekend. And I've had enough of Castiel and Lysander for to last me a GOOD while…..a day at the park with Nathaniel should be nice.* After having thought about it, I accepted his offer. "Great! I'll meet you there Saturday afternoon." Maybe it was just me, but the tone in his voice sounded a little excited. "Ok, see you there." I replied, and hung up the phone. I laid back onto the couch, suddenly feeling a somewhat happier than I was before. *A day at the park…..maybe I can finally relax a little.*

Just thinking about it gave me the energy to actually DO my homework, and with no trouble at all! I was actually able to **enjoy** the rest of my night. I even fell asleep earlier than I usually did. Not without thinking the boys, of course; especially Castiel and Lysander. *I wonder what they'd say if they knew…..* I knew this would come back to haunt me later, but I didn't care. I was actually looking forward to spending some time with Nathaniel for once. And then I remembered something: *Wait….he STILL didn't tell me how he got my number!* Ironically, THAT of ALL thoughts was my last one before falling asleep.

(DX)


	13. Just when you thought you were safe

Over the last few days of the week, Castiel had continued to spy on me, and I did my best to stay as far away from Lysander as possible; although, I KNEW it would only cause more trouble for me. I wasn't exactly sure when or how Lysander was going to punish me for this, but I didn't really think about it too much. (My mistake…..)

I was more focused on my date with Nathaniel that weekend. *My date…? Did I just call it a date? Uh-oh... N-Nevermind that! Just focus on being happy!* Yes, I'll admit it; the thought of spending some time with Nathaniel made me happy. Just a nice, quiet day with a nice, quiet boy. Perfect.

Before I knew it, the weekend finally came. I had finished up ALL my homework, and was now ready to relax and enjoy the next two days. I woke up Saturday morning feeling happy and at peace; something that **didn't** come often in my life. Not anymore.

I got up and dressed, and spent the rest of my morning like I usually would; ate breakfast, watched a little TV, etc. Around noon, I left my apartment and made my way to the park. As soon as I arrived, I saw Nathaniel sitting on a park bench not too far from where I was standing. He looked up and noticed me, then smiled and waved. I did the same, then sat on the bench next to him.

"Hi, Nathaniel!"

"Hi Julia. How are you today?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. Actually, even better, now that you're here."

I couldn't help but blush when he said that.

"R-Really?"

Nathaniel said nothing, just stared at me for a moment, smiling sweetly.

"What?!" I spoke, breaking the silence. His stare was getting to me. "Oh, nothing…." He replied shyly, looking away for a second before looking back at me. "It's just…you're so cute when you blush like that." As soon as I heard that, I froze. Nathaniel was sitting there next to me, smiling (and blushing -w-), and telling me I was cute. I mean, how was I going to respond to that?! *#O.O#*

Luckily, I didn't have to. Nathaniel saw my expression and chuckled. "Are you ok? I'm sorry." I looked away and replied "Um, no…it's ok." He stood up and held his hand out. "Shall we go for a walk then?" "Um, sure…." I said quietly and took his hand, standing up as well.

We walked around the park for a while and chatted, holding hands the whole time. Call me crazy, but I could've sworn someone was following us. Every few minutes, I would hear a noise, but when I turned to look, no one was there. The noises stopped after a while though *thank goodness…*, so nothing more was thought on the subject.

Unfortunately, Nathaniel caught me looking back. "Is….something back there?" I looked at him. "What?" He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Well….it's just that you've been checking behind you for a while now. Is everything ok?" I looked away and replied "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Nathaniel sighed, but said nothing as we continued walking. We had only taken a few steps before he spoke again. "When?" I suddenly became confused. "What do you mean?" He looked at me, a slightly sad expression on his face.

"When are you going to tell me what you're really thinking? You always say 'It's nothing', but I **know** it isn't. Why won't you tell me anything?" I looked away again, staying silent. Nathaniel stopped walking, stopping me with him. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Why won't you let me protect you?"

I stayed silent for another moment before replying "It's…..complicated." I then looked at him. "But I can tell you why I was looking back there. I think someone was following us…I heard noises….." He looked back before looking at me again. "Oh, you heard those too? I thought it was just me…..but do you really think someone was following us?" I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm not sure who it was though…"

When I tried to figure out who it could've been, my brain automatically accused Castiel. I wasn't completely sure, but he **had** been spying on me lately. I could feel myself getting nervous. I must have looked that way too, because Nathaniel said "….You think it's Castiel, don't you?"

I looked at him, surprised. *Was it **that** easy to tell?* "Anyway, you shouldn't worry. If it **was** Castiel, he definitely would've stolen you away from me already. Which reminds me…."

Nathaniel walked me over to a bench and sat down, pulling me down to sit next to him. "Listen, I….I want you to stay away from Castiel." I just stared at him. All I could manage to say in reply was "…Oh….." He put his arm around me and held my face with his other hand.

"I don't…..want him taking you away from me. I like spending time with you like this, and…I want…to start a relationship with you." He paused for a moment, and then spoke again. "Julia…..I love you." Before I could say _**anything**_ , he leaned down and started kissing me, passionately. I felt his love in every kiss; my heart felt like it was going to burst.

After the kissing finally came to an end, Nathaniel just held me up against him for a few minutes. As it was before, his embrace was so warm, I just wanted to fall asleep in his arms. But also as it was before, we eventually let go of each other.

It was starting to get late, so Nathaniel walked me home to my apartment. Once there, I unlocked the door to go inside, then turned to face Nathaniel. He leaned in and stroked my face, whispering "I love you." before kissing me one last time. After a few seconds, he broke the kiss and started walking away. "Goodnight…..Sweetie."

*…. "Sweetie?" O.O*

I was really exhausted that night, so even my thoughts couldn't keep me awake for long. *Thank God…* (I know, I say that a lot! .) Unfortunately, just when I was about to fall asleep, my cell phone started ringing. I picked it up and looked to see who could be calling me at this time of night. **Lysander**.

I guess Lysander thought he'd try to reach me at 1 a.m. I was really annoyed with him for this, but a little scared of him too. I ignored the calls anyway; I was tired, and I just didn't feel like putting up with him. It was THEN that my thoughts really started getting to me. (Thanks a LOT, Lysander! .)

However, unlike all other times, I couldn't really think about anything but Nathaniel and what happened today. Castiel came into my thoughts only a few times, and I thought very little of Lysander; most of them were consumed by Nathaniel. They didn't last long though; I was still exhausted. And before I knew it, I had managed to actually fall asleep. (…..Yes….! -w-)

The next morning came much faster than I thought it would. I was woken abruptly by a familiar voice. "Slim! Get up!" I opened my eyes to see Castiel yank the covers off and drag me out of bed.

"Get dressed; you have five minutes!"

"Why?!"

"Don't ask questions, just do it!"

He started shoving me towards my closet.

"Ok, Ok! I'm going!"

I pushed Castiel off me and stomped the rest of the way over to my closet. I quickly picked out a random outfit and got dressed. As soon as I got out, Castiel grabbed my hand and started pulling me away; I didn't even get a chance to put up my hair. (NUUUUUU! .)

Before long, we'd reached the movie theater. "=.= ….You brought me…..to a MOVIE THEATER?!" Castiel chuckled. "What? You don't like movies?" "No, it's not that….." I waited a moment before continuing. "So which movie are we gonna see?" He just grinned. "You'll see…" I had a bad feeling about this.

When we got inside, I followed Castiel up to the ticket counter. As it turned out, he picked the scariest horror movie on the list. I just sighed. *Seriously?! -.-* Castiel noticed this, and grinned. "What's the matter, Slim?" To that, I replied "Sorry Castiel, I don't **like** this movie." I couldn't keep myself from smiling at my own remark. He smirked at me; I could tell he got it. "Hmm….too bad, Slim." He took my hand again and pulled me towards our theater.

Once we'd found our seats, I went ahead and sat down. Castiel, still standing, leaned down and whispered to me "Hey, I'm gonna go get us some popcorn and soda. Don't get too scared, Slim." He grinned and walked away; I just smirked and rolled my eyes. *Yeah, whatever.*

The movie turned out to be a lot scarier than I thought it would be. There wasn't **one** scene I could remember that didn't have blood, murder, or cannibalism in it. Somewhere during a really graphic scene of the movie, Castiel whispered "You scared, Slim?" I jumped instantly; he started laughing at me (quietly, of course….). "What is wrong with you?!" I whisper-yelled at him, to which he just replied "C'mere Slim." and pulled me so that I was leaning up against him, then rested his head on me. *You did this on purpose, didn't you?! : (* Although my thoughts said differently, I had to admit I DID feel safer with him there.

I eventually gave up on the movie altogether and closed my eyes 'til it was over. When it _**was**_ finally over, Castiel and I left the theater and started towards my apartment again. On the way there, I said nothing; I was still kind of mad at him for pulling that little "stunt" on me. Unfortunately, Castiel noticed I was pouting and spoke to me. "Hey, what's the matter?" I looked over to see him grinning at me, which made me even **more** ticked off. "You did that on **purpose** , didn't you?"

"What? I just took you out to the movies to have a good time." I could tell he was playing dumb with me; I didn't really appreciate that. "Uh-huh, and you picked a scary movie just so I would get scared and cling to you." He waited for a moment before replying. "But it made you feel better, didn't it?" I remained silent. After realizing that I wasn't going to say anything, Castiel suddenly reached out and pulled me towards him, wrapping his arms around me. "Hey, don't kid yourself." he whispered. "You belong with me." I still didn't say anything, just wrapped my arms around him and rested up against him.

After a few seconds, I realized something. "Wait…..HOW did you get into my apartment?!" Castiel waited for a few seconds and then just started laughing. "Did you **just** realize that?" *=.= …..* He calmed down a little and continued. "Let's just say…..you need to find a better hiding place for your spare key." This came to my surprise; I thought I HAD found a good place to hide it. *Ugh, now I'm gonna have to hide that thing again! .*

After a few minutes, we'd finally reached my apartment door. I said goodbye to Castiel, and then he left. I spent the rest of my day relaxing and enjoying myself (and trying to find a good hiding spot for my key. =.=). But of course, as most days do, this one ended quickly…..almost. As I got ready for bed, I heard my cell phone ringing. And once again, it was Lysander, trying to check up on me. At this point, I was REALLY annoyed with him. I answered the phone just to get him off my back. "Hello?" I asked, a very annoyed tone in my voice.

"And just WHERE have **you** been?! You think you can just ignore me like that for two days?!" Of course, I could tell he was angry, but I didn't care; I was angry too. "I **think** I can do whatever I WANNA do, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Now whaddya want?!" I was nearly shouting. "You've got some nerve…..I'll make you pay for that! Remember the little talk we had about **avoidance**?" I was getting more and more annoyed with him by the second. "Yeah, so?!"

"Well, you've been a bad girl, Darling. A **very** bad girl. You'd better be ready...because the next time I see you….I'll make you BEG for mercy." There was no way I was gonna let him do that. "Well then I guess I'll just have to skip school tomorrow." I could hear him chuckle softly on the other end. "Don't bother…..I'm coming over there. **Right. Now.** "

As soon as he said that, I instantly froze. Any confidence I may have had before had suddenly turned into fear. I knew I had to get out of there. And fast. Without thinking, I quickly threw on my sweater jacket and burst out the door. I didn't even bother to lock it; I just had to get away from there. I ran all the way down the stairs to the lobby, burst through **those** front doors and started sprinting in a random direction. Far off in the distance, I could hear thunder. *Oh no….*

Rain started pouring down harder than it ever had before. I quickly hid behind the wall of some building and looked back just in time to see Lysander enter my apartment building. * ….I had a feeling that he lived close, but I never imagined he lived THAT close! O.O* Having made sure he'd entered the building and wasn't going to come out for a while, I stepped away from the wall and started running again.

Unfortunately, I'm not a fast runner and it gives me really bad headaches. Not to mention it was RAINING outside! But that didn't matter. Not now. I was seriously willing to go through any kind of pain just to get away from Lysander. It made me realize just how much I was scared of him. No, scared is an understatement. I was **terrified**.*Gotta keep running….just keep running!*


	14. I'm Living a Nightmare

*Keep running!* I kept telling myself, but I knew I couldn't 'keep running' forever. My head was aching, my heart was pounding, and I was so exhausted that I felt as if I was going to pass out at any moment. So, I hid behind another building to take a short rest.

"Phew…..I think I ran far enough." I whispered to myself; although, I wasn't too sure I **had** gotten far enough. Still, I **really** needed that rest. I leaned up against the building wall for a few minutes to catch my breath. And the moment I got back up again…

*SLAM!* Someone grabbed a hold of my sweater jacket, slamming me back against the wall. "Well, well, if it isn't the little runaway." It was really dark out by then, but I knew that voice all too well. Lysander. He stepped in front of me, putting one hand on the wall, blocking any chance of my escape; and the other on my face.

"Darling, **why** do you keep running away from me? You **know** you can't escape forever." I just stood there, terrified. "I-I'm sorry…."

"Are you really?" He shot back at me. It was obvious he didn't believe me, but I didn't blame him for that; I was obviously lying. "Please don't hurt me…." I begged him. He remained silent for a moment as I stood there, shaking in silence, waiting for his reply. And then, he said…..

"….I gave you many warnings, but you heeded not a single one of them. I **gave** you my love! 'Don't ignore me'; that's all I ever asked of you! All I wanted was to talk to you and spend time with you and form a relationship together! I wanted **your** love! But you couldn't give that to me, could you?! You couldn't care LESS about me! Don't you realize how much that hurts me?!" I didn't reply, but instead thought *Hurts him? I don't even think he has anything **to** hurt.*

"I'm sorry Darling, but how can I care about your feelings when you **clearly** don't care about mine?" Lysander moved closer to me until our faces were only centimeters apart. He then whispered in a slightly harsh tone "It's time for your punishment." I became really scared now; I had no idea of what he might do. Well…..maybe a slight idea. *Oh no…he can't!*

"Luckily for you, I've got a kind heart, so I'm going to give you a choice." He waited for a moment before continuing. "You can either give in to me and do this at my house, or…." He trailed off for a moment. "If you decide to fight against me in any way, I have **no** problem stripping you down **right. here.** " *What?! In the rain?! Is he crazy?!*

I just stood there staring at him, terrified. I had **no** idea what I was going to do. All of a sudden, there was a flash of lighting, thunder soon came afterwards. I heard footsteps coming down our way, but it was still way too dark to see who it was. It was then that I heard a familiar voice.

"Julia?!" Just by hearing that, I could tell who it was. "Nathaniel?! Is that you?!" Right now, the sound of Nathaniel's voice couldn't have made me any happier. I wished for nothing more than to burst out of Lysander's grasp and run straight into Nathaniel's arms. Of course, for the time being, this was impossible; Lysander isn't an easy guy to escape. However, that didn't stop Nathaniel from trying to save me.

"What's going on?!"

"Stay back! Who are you?!"

"O.O …."

"None of your business! Listen buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but that's my girlfriend you're messing with!"

*turns to me* "Oh, so there's _another_ one, Darling?"

"O.O" …."

"Get AWAY from her!"

Nathaniel tries to push Lysander to the side, but Lysander doesn't budge; apparently Nathaniel isn't as strong as he thought. Lysander throws a punch at Nathaniel, barely hitting him on the side of his face. Although he's not as strong as Lysander, Nathaniel _is_ pretty quick and can easily dodge him.

They kept fighting each other until eventually Lysander had had enough and pounded Nathaniel against the ground, keeping him there.

"I've had enough of this!"

"Ngh…."

I could tell Nathaniel wasn't getting up anytime soon, so I sprinted out of there as fast as I could, hoping to find some kind of hiding place.

It wasn't long after that when I looked back and saw Lysander catching up behind me. And fast. I quickly ducked into a small space between two buildings. I knew he would keep following me, but my strategy was to zigzag in any direction I could to confuse him and hopefully get him away or at least slow him down.

I ran, ducking into every small space between every building I could squeeze into (as long as there was an opening on the other side, that is; I was very careful not to hit a 'dead-end'.) I kept going until my legs were burning (even in rain), and even **then** I wouldn't stop. I was THAT desperate to get away from Lysander, it didn't matter to me what I had to do!

Unfortunately, my 'plan' didn't work. Lysander followed me through everything, not even slowing down once. He even almost caught me a couple times, which I would then avoid by turning a sharp corner and disappearing for the next two seconds. Eventually, I had reached a housing district. It was then that I realized I had no idea where I was. This was a part of town I'd never been to before, and running around in an unfamiliar area would only lead to trouble.

I kept running along the sidewalks of this unfamiliar housing district, unsure of where to go next. Lysander was still chasing me, but he wasn't as close behind as before. *I guess he **did** get tired…* And honestly, I was tired from running as well. *Well…..there is **some** distance between us….maybe I could hide if I'm quick about it.*

That's what I told myself, even though I knew it was completely hopeless. But at this point, I didn't care; at the soonest opportunity I could, I ran up and jumped into a row of bushes beside someone's house. *This is bad…now I'm trespassing! .*

I hid silently in the bushes, but I could still hear Lysander's footsteps fast approaching me. *…..I'm done for. -.-* It was at that moment when whoever lived there stepped outside and turned the porch light on. "Hey! Who's out there?!...Lysander?" I remained silent, still in those bushes, frozen in terror. I didn't hear Lysander reply to this guy either. *Wait…..the guy who lives here…knows Lysander? Come to think of it…I know that voice.*

This 'mystery guy' spoke again. "What are **you** doing here?! In case you haven't noticed, we're not friends anymore! So what are you doing at my house?!" Lysander remained silent. "…..She's here, isn't she?" My eyes widened at that. *Could he be talking about…? o.o* Lysander still said nothing. "Isn't she?!"

"…..I have to go." I heard Lysander say quietly, and listened as he walked away. I hoped that the other guy would go back inside and forget about the whole thing so I could make my escape. But instead….

"I know you're there somewhere. Get out here!" He shouted into the night. *...no…* I thought to myself; all I wanted was for him to go away so I could go home. That was all. "Tsk fine, have it your way. Demon, find her." *Demon? Castiel! O.O* I realized right then and there that the guy who was talking just now…was Castiel.

After a few seconds, I heard something rustling the bushes I was hiding in, and in poked a doggie's head. "Demon~! ^w^" Demon barked once, then pounced on me and started licking my face. "Hee Hee~ Stop it~! w" I pushed Demon off me and noticed someone standing there. "Good boy, you found her. Let's go, Slim." Castiel grabbed my arm and pulled me up, then walked me into his house, Demon following close behind.

"Sit." Castiel told me as soon as we were inside. I picked a spot on his couch and sat down. "Wait here." He left for a moment, then came back with two towels. He gave one to me and threw the other around himself, sitting down next to me.

(Demon just shook himself off. w)

"Ok. I want you to tell me what just happened. Why was Lysander there? Why were YOU there? WHAT is going on?" I looked down for a moment before replying "Well….Lysander was chasing me."

"Why was he chasing you?"

"He wanted to punish me because I ignored him."

"….because you ignored him?"

"I didn't talk to him for two days. At all."

"And he was going to punish you? How?"

"I'd…rather not say."

"No, tell me, Slim. What was he going to do to you?"

"He said if I fought against him, he would strip me down..."

*sighs* "Alright, you know what? This ends now. I'm not letting him near you again. I'm not letting ANYONE near you again. In fact, I'm not letting YOU out of my sight again!"

"But wait. If I'm not allowed out of your sight, doesn't that mean…..?"

"Yeah. You're staying here. With me."

"OaO But….I-!"

"We can go to your place to get your stuff after school tomorrow. But then that's it. You're done living there."

"OAO Wait! That's not-!"

"Fair? Yeah, I don't care."

"OAO But-!"

"It's bedtime."

"A"

Castiel stood up and grabbed my hand, dragging me to his room. Once there, he closed the door behind him and motioned me to get into bed. "Go on, Slim." "Ok…." However, knowing that there was only one bed in the room, I was inevitably reluctant to do so.

Castiel turned off the lights and crawled into bed next to me, wrapping one of his arms tightly around my waist. "Hey…..it's ok. I'm not _that_ bad." It was dark, but I could still tell he was grinning at me. I smiled back, but I was still a little nervous inside. I mean, I knew Castiel wasn't going to try anything, but I just didn't feel ready to move in yet. It was all so sudden.

"Goodnight Slim…." He whispered into my ear. "…I love you." He kissed my forehead and rested up against me, keeping me as close to him as possible. As for me, well….I was still too shocked by his words to even think about falling asleep. *Loves me…? Castiel…..? o.o* Just that thought alone took me a good half-hour to get through. And then…..

*AAAAAAHH! Nathaniel! What have I done?! OAO Is he ok? Where is he right now?! I should've stayed! Aaaah, I'm such a terrible person! .*

I felt like the worst person in the world for leaving Nathaniel out there, injured in the rain. I just ran away, only thinking of my own well-being. What was wrong with me?! There was no way I could sleep now. Not even at five in the morning. Nope.

My thoughts haunted me for what seemed like forever. And yet, I knew this was **still** going to be what it already was. A VERY. LONG. NIGHT. *Ugh….. -.-*

How I wished for morning to come…


	15. The Next Level (Part 1)

*AGH!* No matter how I tried, I just could NOT fall asleep; not with all the thoughts speeding through my head. And now, the guilt of leaving Nathaniel was haunting me as well.

There was something I had to do about this; THAT, I knew for sure. I checked to make sure Castiel was asleep before getting out of bed and quickly (but quietly) walking towards the door. *Wait…what if Nathaniel isn't there anymore?*

I suddenly realized that there was a good chance that he had left already. He didn't seem hurt enough to be unable to leave on his own when I left him. I knew that I could be wasting my time if I tried going back to find him, so I decided to try and call him to make sure he was ok.

I grabbed my phone and went out into the hallway, so as not to disturb Castiel. However, when I tried calling…no answer. I was a little worried, so I tried calling a few more times. Still no answer. After trying another two times, I received a text message.

"Stop calling me."

*Nathaniel! O.O* Without thinking, I quickly shot back a text of my own.

"Are you ok?"

After no response, I just stood there, staring at my phone, waiting for a reply. I was just about to give up and go back to bed when my phone suddenly buzzed again.

"….I'm alright. As long as you're safe…."

Hearing that, I was relieved.

"I'm fine. I'm glad that you're ok…"

I was just going to put my phone away again when one more text was received.

"Ok then. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

With that, I smiled and went back to bed. This time, I was able to fall asleep instantly; no thoughts at all. *Yes…! -w-*

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!* I was woken up to the sound of an irritating alarm clock. (Then again, what alarm clock ISN'T irritating?) I turned it off and looked at the time; 7:30 a.m. *Oh…Castiel must've set the alarm for school…*

Regardless of the fact that it was time to get up for school, I was still **extremely** tired. *How long did I stay up last night?* I was too tired to even remember THAT much. Nevertheless, I fought to stay awake and tried to wake Castiel up as well.

"Hey Castiel, get up." I whispered, gently shaking him. "Ngh…" he groaned, and turned over, obviously still half-asleep. "C'mon Castiel…" I tried again. "It's time for school." Without turning to face me, he replied "We're not goin to school today…"

"What? But we have to…" I said to him.

"No we don't.

"Why?"

He sat up and finally turned to face me, then said "Two reasons. One, I'm not getting up at this ungodly hour for school, and you're not either; not after staying up all night. Two, tell me how you're gonna go to school wearing that." He pointed to my clothes….except they weren't clothes. *Ah! I'm still wearing my pajamas! OaO*

It was only then that I remembered that I had just been getting ready for bed when Lysander called. I only had my pajamas and my sweater jacket (no shoes either!), and I highly doubted that any of Castiel's clothes were going to fit me.

"That's what I thought." Castiel grinned at me and laid back down. I just sat there, unsure of what to do next. After a few moments, Castiel sighed and spoke again. "Lay down, Slim. You need your rest."

He reached out and wrapped his arms around me, then pulled me down next to him. Another few minutes passed, and he was asleep again. Unfortunately, I couldn't do the same. *Lucky….*

Furthermore, I still had the urge to go to school; Nathaniel's last text implied that he wanted to see me today. So, regardless of Castiel's orders, I got up and tried to find something to change into.

Fortunately, I found an old t-shirt and a pair of jeans in the back of his drawer that fit me well enough that I wouldn't trip over them. *Phew~…^w^* After getting dressed, I quietly took my phone and snuck out of the room.

I sat down on the couch, searching the internet on my phone for a map that I could use to get back to my apartment. After all, I wouldn't want to show up to school without my backpack, and I certainly wouldn't want to visit Nathaniel while looking like Castiel. That's just common sense! …..Not to mention, I still needed shoes….

Once I had gotten the map, I got up off the couch and headed towards the door. Just when I reached for the doorknob, Demon stepped in front of me, blocking my path. He whined at me, as if to keep me from leaving.

"Demon, please move." I said to the sad-looking puppy. "I'll be back, ok? I promise." I reached down to pet him, and then gently nudged him so that he would move out of the way. Then, I left, heading towards my apartment.

Since I have no sense of direction, I kept getting lost. I mean REALLY lost. It took me an **hour** to get back to my apartment when it should've taken me 15-30 minutes! Anyway, now that I was back at my apartment, I quickly got changed, grabbed my bag and left, off on my way to school.

Of course, since I was almost two hours late, I got an absentee note for my "parents" to sign. *I'll have to sign that later…* I thought to myself, and hurried into the classroom to attend the remaining ten minutes of History class.

Everyone stared at me as I made my way to my seat. "Thank you for joining my class, Julia. You have already received your absentee note, I assume?" Mr. Faraize said to me, not bothering to turn from the whiteboard to face me. "Yes, sir. Sorry I'm late…" I said in reply, trying to catch up with the rest of the class.

After class was over, I quickly walked towards the student council room, hoping to see Nathaniel and make sure that he really was ok. Instead, as soon as I opened the door…

"Julia! Where have you been?! Nathaniel has been trying to get a hold of you all morning!" Melody, another one of my friends who enjoyed helping Nathaniel, shouted at me. "What? Why? What happened?!" I shouted back. I was starting to get really concerned now.

"You don't know? He's in the hospital!"

"Wha-?!"

"Here!"

Before I got a chance to say anything, Melody shoved the phone into my hand. I put it up to my ear and spoke.

"Hello?"

"Julia…"

"Nathaniel? What happened, what's going on?!"

"Last night…..one of my ribs broke. That guy you were with….I guess he hit me harder than I thought…"

Suddenly, the events of last night's incident flashed before my eyes. Lysander was…...and then Nathaniel came and….Lysander…Nathaniel collapsed and…I ran away. *Nathaniel…collapsed…* Come to think of it, I didn't stay long enough to see if Nathaniel ever got up again. *Was he really that hurt after all?!*

"But wait! You were just texting me last night! You said you were ok!"

"…What are you talking about? I never texted you last night. I never said that….come to think of it…..where's my phone?"

*Wait…..he doesn't have his phone? Then...what what phone is he using?*

If he didn't have **his** phone, I could only assume he was using someone else's. I heard a rustling noise in the background...

"My phone….it's not here! I'm sorry to ask you this, Julia, but do you have any idea of where it might be?"

"Well…maybe someone from your family took it?! I mean, between your parents…..and your sister…."

I trailed off. I didn't want to hurt his feelings by dissing on Amber, but based on her actions at school, it would be understandable to think that she took it.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, but Amber didn't take my phone and I'm pretty sure my parents didn't either. Either I dropped it somewhere…or someone stole it."

*Stole it….* Suddenly, a realization came to mind. *Lysander!*

"Nathaniel, if your phone WAS stolen…I have a pretty good idea of who it was."

He sighed; I could tell he knew it too.

"It's ok, just leave it. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Ok...…"

I knew he was right to worry about me; I didn't stand a chance if I confronted Lysander, but a part of me still wanted to get his phone back for him…

"I mean it Julia, don't go anywhere near him. Hey….can you please visit me when you can? I'd like to talk to you in person…"

"Sure Nathaniel, I'll be there as soon as I can. And I promise…I won't go near him."

"Good…...I'll see you later…"

"Yeah, see you then."

I hung up the phone. It was only then that I noticed everyone in the room was staring at me, as if they expected to me to tell them some juicy gossip or something. *Have they been staring at me like that the whole time? o.o*

Melody was the first one to say something. "So? What did he say? Who stole his phone? What's happening?!" They all continued to stare at me, awaiting my response. Right now, I really wasn't in the mood for interrogation, but I knew I had to say **something**.

I was just about to tell them what happened when the bell for the next class rang. "Oh! There's the bell; I gotta run!" And regardless of my figure of speech, I almost actually DID run.

I wasn't able to focus at ALL during the rest of the day, considering the horrible news I'd just heard. My entire day consisted only of my thoughts, and because of them, terrible headaches as well.

Such information would only waste your time, but if you REALLY wanna know what went on in my head all day, then I shall tell you. THESE are the thoughts that consumed me.

*Lysander stole it; that's the only explanation! He must've known I'd check up on Nathaniel eventually, so he took his phone! Lysander answered my texts from Nathaniel's phone! AAAAAHHHH! .*

After my torturous school day of repeating thoughts, I quickly ran towards the school exit, heading for the hospital. I was just making my way through the main hallway and towards the front doors when somebody grabbed a hold of my shirt and pulled me backwards. Whoever that person was started chuckling, and I automatically knew who it was. My heart sank.

"Oh Darling, I just cannot believe you fell right into my trap. You are SO easy…"

He walked up right behind me and whispered,

"…but that's what I like about you."

"What do you want, Lysander?"

"I think you know…"

"Look, can't the punishment wait? I don't have time for this right now!"

I tried pulling away, but he wouldn't let go.

"Darling…that's so…bold of you to say. Nevertheless, I have decided to cancel this punishment."

"…Really?"

"Instead, I will punish you by destroying your relationship with everyone you love…excluding myself, of course. Then you will have to be with me, because I will be the only one who loves you."

He paused for a moment before continuing…

"I want you Darling…and if I can't have you...no one can!"

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me frozen; speechless…

*…*

To Be Continued…


	16. The Next Level (Part 2)

For a minute, I just stood there, trying to process what had just happened. It was right at that moment when I realized that I still had somewhere to be! So, as soon as I was able to feel my legs again, I hurried off towards the hospital, running as fast as I could; but even while running, it still took me a half-hour to get there!

As **soon** as I arrived, I ran straight up to the front desk to ask where Nathaniel was...but then I remembered…*AAAH! I don't know his last name! I can't ask without a full name!* I frantically paced around the room trying to decide on what to do until I heard someone call for me. "Hey, klutz!" I turned my head and saw Amber walking in my direction.

*Out of all the people…why her?!*

"Oh…hey Amber…" I said to her, to which she instantly replied "Cut the small talk and get up there! Nathaniel's been pestering me about you for the past HOUR!"

*Really…?*

"Ok, but where's his room?" I really hated asking this question to my LEAST favorite person in the world, but I knew I had no other option. "Third floor, room 301! Now get up there already!" I was REALLY annoyed with her now…"Alright, alright, I'm going…!" And with that, I stomped my way down the hallway and AWAY from her!

I took the elevator up to the third floor and made my way over to room 301. *God, I hope she isn't tricking me…* I thought to myself, hoping that I had the right room. Thankfully, I did. As soon as I walked in, I saw Nathaniel smiling at me from his bed by the window. I smiled back and walked over to him.

"Hi Nathaniel, how are you?"

"I'm fine…well, you know, besides the fact that I'm sitting in a hospital bed…but other than that, I'm doing ok."

"Hey listen, I'm really sorry about that…"

"It's ok, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was! If I hadn't left you there–"

"No…come here."

He gestured me to come to him. I walked closer to him and he took my hand.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just glad you're safe."

I just stood there, remaining silent. I could feel myself blushing. *He's so sweet…if only I didn't have such a complicated love life…*

"…But I wanted to ask you something."

"Ok, sure. Go ahead."

"I wanted to ask you…who was that guy you were with last night?"

I looked away hesitating for a moment before replying,

"…His name is Lysander…"

I trailed off. Nathaniel stared at me, waiting for me to continue, but after realizing that I wasn't going to say anything, **he** did.

"He seemed to know you...he was calling you 'Darling'…and he said you were 'three-timing' him…why?"

I remained silent, still looking away.

"…Sweetie, I need to know…are you…cheating on me?"

The tone in his voice just seemed so…sad; as if he was about to cry. Nothing in my entire life had made me feel as guilty as I did right now. I knew I had to tell him the truth…but I wasn't exactly sure how.

"No…well, yes…sort of."

"…Sort of? What do you mean 'sort of'? It's either you are or you aren't…which is it?"

"Well…it's complicated. HE likes me; I don't like HIM. He doesn't care though, and takes advantage of me anyway."

"How long has this been going on?"

"…Two weeks…"

Nathaniel pulled me closer.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

At **that** moment, Castiel stormed into the room.

"SLIM! WHERE did you go?! I thought I told you NOT to leave, and when I woke up, you were GONE! Oh yeah, and then I have to find out that you ran off to the hospital to visit HIM! WHY?!"

Nathaniel interrupted before I even got a chance to reply.

"What?! 'Woke up'?! You SLEPT with him? What happened to ENDING things with him?!"

I didn't get a chance to THINK before Castiel spoke again.

"Oh, so you were planning on **ending** things with me? Since when?"

"Since she became my GIRLFRIEND!"

"YOUR girlfriend?!"

"Julia, you didn't tell him about our date on Saturday?

"You mean the day right before she dated ME?!"

"You went out with him yesterday?!"

After all this yelling, I was starting to feel dizzy. *What…what is this? What's happening to me…?*

Nevertheless, they both continued shouting at each other.

"By the way, Castiel, do you know about someone named 'Lysander'?"

"Slim, you told him about Lysander?!"

"You know him?!"

I had such a headache, I wasn't able to listen to **either** of them. I felt as if I was going to pass out...but there was something else that didn't feel right. There was just one question I HAD to ask first!

"How did you find me?!"

They both froze and stared at me in shock. No answer. I didn't know how much longer I could take this, so I asked again.

"Castiel…HOW did you find me?! Answer me!"

His stare of shock turned into a look of confusion. "What do you mean, 'how' did I find you? You just sent me a text 10 minutes ago telling me that you were here."

The look on my face suddenly reflected the look on his. "What? I never sent that—" I stopped for a moment. "Where's my phone?!" I started searching my pockets frantically, but it was nowhere to be found. And then I realized… "Lysander!"

"What?!" Both of them shouted simultaneously.

"Lysander…" I trailed off, slowly sliding to the floor. Everything around me was going dark.

"Julia?!"

"Slim!"

I could hear Castiel and Nathaniel's voices echoing in the background, but I couldn't hear them over the sound of the last two things that Lysander had said to me that day. "I'll destroy your relationship with **everyone** you love...I want you, Darling…and if I can't have you…no one can!" That's what he said, and judging by his actions…he meant it. Lysander had stolen my phone and ended things himself. Everything had just been taken to the next level…and I wasn't sure I was ready for it. *Lysander…how could you do this to me?*

And then, everything went black…


	17. Wondering

**My Point Of View**

 _Where did it all go wrong?_

I found myself standing on the sidewalk bordering the courtyard of Sweet Amoris High School. What? School…why am I…? From what I'd remembered, I had just passed out at a hospital not too long ago…and now I was at school?

Weird…

Out of curiosity, I stepped onto the courtyard, making my way towards the high school. Maybe I can find out what's going on…

As I walked towards the school, I noticed that everything was tinted into a light blue. It was really strange, but I decided to keep on going. And then I saw…Castiel?

Castiel was standing by that same tree like he usually does. The look on his face just seemed so…uninterested.

Weird…I could have sworn I had that exact same thought somewhere before…

"Castiel!" I called out to him, but…no response. I called for him again. Nothing. I walked up in front of him and spoke again, but still nothing. He was looking **right** at me, and yet…he **wasn't** looking at me. The longer I stood there, the more it seemed…he was looking **through** me.

He can't hear me…

He can't SEE me…

I was seriously starting to freak out now…

What in the world is going on?!

 **Castiel's Point Of View**

"Slim!" I skid to the ground and shook her, but no response. I immediately let go and burst out the door to find a nurse; a doctor; SOMEONE. I ran through the hallways…

What just happened?! She seemed fine just a moment ago, and then she collapsed?! What's going on?!

I practically smashed in every door in the hallway trying to find someone who could help her. And then out of nowhere, I heard someone running after me. "Hey! You can't do that here! Who do you think you are?!" The person behind me was shouting some kind of nonsense; who did they think THEY were?! I spun around and yanked him by the collar.

"Shut up! Listen buddy, you've got some nerve! I have a girlfriend who JUST collapsed up there and I can't find ANYBODY to help her! So it's either YOU take a look at her, or I kick your teeth in! Which is it?!"

Needless to say, I convinced him to help Slim.

As soon as we got back to the room, the nurse…doctor…WHATEVER he was, helped me get her onto a bed and then examined her.

"Hmm…and she just…collapsed?"

I nodded. "Yeah…I don't know what's wrong with her…"

Other than the fact that she's three-timing me…Agh, what am I thinking?! She could be in serious danger!

"Well her condition isn't too serious…it seems that she's just passed out from exhaustion."

"What?! But that's not serious at all!" I snapped back at him.

So much for serious danger! I swear to God, Slim, when you wake up…!

"Son, it IS serious. Don't underestimate the effect this could have had on her. When's the last time she slept?"

"Uh, I dunno…" I sighed, and glanced at the clock. 7:00 p.m.

Let's see…it's seven, and she hasn't slept ALL day, nor did she get much last night…she woke up at about 8…I think…it's so hard to remember! Ok, calm down. Assuming she woke up at 8 this morning…and given the fact that we fell asleep at about 5…at least, that's when **I** fell asleep; I have no idea when SHE did!"

"…Sir, are you ok?"

"Uh!" I snapped back into reality. "…I'm fine. Um…I would say, the last time she could have slept was about 10 hours go…but even then, she only could've gotten 3 hours of sleep at **most.** "

He looked at me with confusion.

"What do you mean 'at most'?"

I sighed and told him everything I could. I told him how I fell asleep before she did and about what had happened earlier that night; how that meant there was a possibility that she had no sleep at ALL for about two days. Thinking about it…I kinda felt sorry for her. Having no sleep, of course she wasn't thinking straight today.

But you didn't just start cheating on me today, **did** you?

No matter how much I wanted to think otherwise; considering her situation at the moment; I just couldn't help but think that maybe she **wasn't** the one for me…or that I wasn't the one for her. I gave her many chances, but she just couldn't make up her mind.

Does she even want me? Or…

I looked over at Nathaniel, who was sitting in the bed right next to hers, staring out the window.

…does she want **him?**

He looked away from the window and instead, at me. I quickly turned my head to look away, hoping he didn't catch me staring at him. And then I looked back at Slim.

God forbid she wants Lysander. If she doesn't want me, at least I could handle it if Nathaniel were to be her choice. If she ever chose Lysander…I'd never forgive myself. He's not the person he pretends to be when meeting others for the first time; I think even Slim knows that by now. If she ever ended up loving him and he makes her **his** …yeah right. I'd kill him before I'd let THAT happen…

As much as I hated thinking like that, I couldn't get my mind off of the idea of 'Lysander and Slim' for a whole 'nother minute before I finally realized something.

Lysander! She said his name! Right before she passed out! That's right, how could I forget?

My thoughts were interrupted by a strange feeling, as if someone was staring at me…

I quickly shot a look at Nathaniel, and sure enough, he was staring **right** at me. From the look on his face, I could tell he knew something too.

"Castiel…I just realized something…"

I had a good feeling I already knew what it was...

And I couldn't help but ask…

"Lysander?"

He nodded. "Lysander…"

 **My Point Of View**

After realizing that Castiel could neither hear me nor see me, I was really starting to panic! I sprinted all around the courtyard, shouting and frantically waving my arms, hoping that someone; ANYONE would hear me! But once I'd realized that none of them were able to, I started going INSANE! I knew I had to get out of there. And fast!

I ran in the direction of the street as fast as I could! However, right when I had JUST reached the end of the sidewalk…*BAM!*

I ran into something. Hard. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground. "Ow…what WAS that?!" I looked up, but nothing was there. "Okay…"

I tried walking onto the street again, but just as before, I couldn't. Something was blocking me; I didn't know what, but there was definitely **something**. I reached out my hand until I felt a wall. I couldn't see it, but I knew it was there. When I touched the wall, a yellow ring of light appeared around my hand.

"Huh?"

I put the other hand up. Another ring of light.

"…What **is** this?"

I tried to break through the wall; pushed it, punched it, even kicked it, but even with all my strength, the wall never even cracked. I finally decided to give up and walk away. When I took my hands off the invisible wall, the rings of light disappeared. I knew the wall was still there though, so I turned away slowly and headed off towards the school again.

"Oh…kay…"

Once I had gotten inside, curiosity got the best of me. Since I had just seen Castiel outside, I wanted to see if Nathaniel was there as well. I suspiciously made my way over to the student council room.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting at a desk, sorting through papers. Just as I thought, he didn't seem to notice me either. I was just about to turn and leave when Nathaniel looked up from his papers and smiled at me…or at least, in my direction…

"Ah, you must be the new student the principal mentioned. You're here for registration aren't you? If I recall correctly, you've already submitted your registration form…here it is."

He pulled out a sheet of paper, got up and walked right through me.

To that, even though I knew he was talking to someone behind me, I became a little confused…

Huh? Why does it feel…like he's said that before?

I had no idea why I was getting these feelings of deja-vu, but that didn't matter now. I still needed to find out what was going on, and I wasn't gonna find anything here. But when I turned to leave…I saw Nathaniel talking to someone familiar…VERY familiar… I gasped as my eyes widened.

…No way!

 **Nathaniel's Point Of View**

"Julia?!"

I was too busy trying to process what had just happened to notice anything; all I knew was that one minute, Castiel was on the floor with her, and out the door the next. I struggled to get out of bed and help her, but my IV wasn't letting me go anywhere. Not to mention, I was still too weak from the operation. Any time I tried to move, a sharp wave of pain traveled throughout my entire body, preventing me from going any further.

I desperately wanted to go to Julia, but I couldn't. Not that I could've helped her anyway, not in the state I was in. I was weak; unable to even **move**. I hate to say it, but I'm glad Castiel had barged in when he did. There were no nurses, doctors, or any other hospital staff on my floor at the time and my pager was broken so I wasn't even able to call someone who COULD help her. If he hadn't shown up…she could've been laying there, unconscious on the ground for God knows how long.

Useless…that's what I was. I was useless to my own girlfriend.

Why can't I be strong for her?

A few minutes later, Castiel came back with one of the doctors. He took a few minutes to examine Julia and then gave the diagnosis. I was relieved to hear that she had only passed out from exhaustion; nothing more.

The doctor left. Castiel said nothing, and I wasn't exactly in the mood to speak with him either. We just sat there. Silence.

Even with all of this going on, I still couldn't help but wonder…

Does she even want to be with me?

I looked over at Castiel.

...Or does she want him after all?

I turned my head to look out the window. Something about this is still bothering me. There is yet another whom she loves; no, that's not what she said. But still, who **is** this 'Lysander' person? Why does he want her so badly? What in the world could he possibly be using my phone for-

And then I remembered something.

…but it wasn't just **my** phone, was it?

I now remembered that Julia had been trying to find her phone just before she collapsed…she also said his name. I quickly looked over to Castiel, who then turned his head to look at me. From the way he looked, I could tell we **both** knew that something wasn't right about this…

"Castiel…I just realized something…"

I decided to tell him my realization; after all, he deserved to know just as much about this as I did. He just stared at me for a moment, trying to decide on what to say. And then he did…

"Lysander?"

I nodded.

"Lysander…"

 **Multi-Character Points of View**

"Well? What is it? Spit it out!"

I was getting impatient now. I needed him to tell me **something**.

 **Anything**.

"Well…it isn't much, but I think I know why she was calling Lysander's name before she passed out."

I hesitated for a moment before continuing…

"…He stole her phone."

To that, he just looked at me, as if I was crazy or something.

"…Wait, Lysander STOLE her PHONE?! How do you even know that?!"

Nathaniel wasn't makin' any sense; I was starting to think he was just wasting my time…

"I know because-!"

I suddenly remembered that I only knew about this because Julia figured it out…still, I had to tell him everything.

"…because he stole MY phone as well…"

I knew I must've sounded crazy, but I really wished he would believe me...

"He stole your phone too? When?!"

As if HIS phone getting stolen makes any more sense!

I sighed. I could tell that none of this was making any sense to him. My only choice was to tell him ALL the events of last night. Everything.

About thirty minutes later…

Once I had explained everything, we both stayed silent for a few minutes. Somehow, even though I told him everything I knew, I still felt as though we hadn't gotten anywhere.

"…I'm sorry if this information is useless to you; even I don't know what to make of it..."

To my surprise, he just scoffed and said,

"Well that's obvious. It's because he wants her."

"Yeah, I know that, but what does that have to do with-"

"He DOESN'T want us."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"DON'T YOU GET IT?! HE DID THIS ON PURPOSE!"

"What?! Did what?!"

I swear to God, this guy is gonna be the death of me!

"THIS!"

I gestured back and forth between us; hopefully he would stop being an IDIOT and understand what I was trying to say!

"Lysander wanted ME to catch Slim with you, and YOU to catch her with me! He was HOPING we would be angry and break up with her, making her single and resulting in what?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"…Lysander taking Julia for himself…?"

And then out of sarcasm, he started clapping.

"Bravo, buddy. You might just be as smart as a fifth grader now."

"I don't need to take this from someone who FAILED the fifth grade!"

I REALLY wanted to punch him right then and there, but I knew it wouldn't solve anything. I, no; WE still had a LOT to figure out. We both knew that something had to be done about Lysander…and we still didn't know what we were gonna do with Slim…

*Sigh…*

My Point Of View

Right there…standing RIGHT in front of me…was me. I was looking at MYSELF.

That's me! I can't believe it! I'm looking right at myself! OaO

I just stood there; shocked as I watched myself talk with Nathaniel. Every word they, or rather, WE said was exactly the same as when I first arrived at Sweet Amoris High. I even mouthed the words I had said to him just when the other me was saying them.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Nathaniel…"

And then "I" left. I was still too shocked too move.

I didn't know WHAT to think at this point…but at least now I had a better idea of where I was…

Hoping to find some answers, I ran after myself. But when I opened the door, it didn't lead to the school hallways. Instead, it led out onto the school roof.

…What?

Nevertheless, I stepped outside. However, when I turned to close the door, it was gone.

Okay…

I slowly turned back and saw myself once again, but this time, with Castiel. We appeared to be talking and enjoying a nice view of the town below.

This…

I knew I'd been here before as well.

I started towards Castiel and "I", but as I got closer, everything around me started to fade. Soon, there was nothing but darkness. I didn't know what to do or where to go now.

Luckily, the darkness cleared up after a few moments and I could see again. But…I wasn't at school anymore…

The park? How did I get here?

I found myself at the park, standing next to a tree. I decided to look around and see if I could find anything. It wasn't long before I found Castiel and "I", chatting while walking Demon.

"Yeah…I remember that too! It's just as I thought; these are my memories!"

I was a little freaked out by my realization. It seemed as though my memories; although not quite all of them; were playing one after another.

Before long, everything faded again and the darkness returned.

Glimpses of my memories; the day I joined basketball, my walk through the gardens with Nathaniel, Castiel's first visit to my apartment; they all flashed by so fast I was barely able to keep track! And then it stopped.

I was at the park again, but this time; I was in the secret area that only Castiel, Lysander and (recently) I knew of.

Wait…this was the day…

I already had a good idea of what I'd see next. Sure enough, when I looked across the field, I saw Castiel and Lysander playing their new song while "I" sat on the ground and listened.

It still sounded as beautiful as ever…possibly the best song I'd ever heard in my life…

Once again, they stopped mid-song; after all, it was still unfinished. For the remainder of that precious memory, I just stood there looking at the three of "us". We were all smiling and laughing…we looked so happy…and it made me wonder…

Where did it all go wrong?


	18. The Deadline

"Uhn…"

I opened my eyes and found myself laying in a hospital bed.

*Where…where am I?*

I held my head as I tried to sit up. I had such a headache…but I still wanted to know where I was.

"Finally awake, Slim?"

I looked over to see Castiel sitting on the edge of my bed. He sat there, crossing his arms, staring at me. The expression on his face certainly didn't look happy. I ignored that and answered him with a question of my own.

"Where am I…what happened?"

"You tell me. You're the one who passed out."

*Oh yeah…that's right…*

I suddenly remembered that I had just been standing in this room, visiting Nathaniel when Castiel got here and caught me with him. Castiel shouted at me, Nathaniel shouted at me, they shouted at each other, I got overwhelmed and dizzy, and then…

"The doctor said you passed out because you weren't sleeping…"

I looked over at Nathaniel in the bed next to me, staring at me with concern. I was going to say something, when Castiel spoke again.

"Slim, I thought I told you to stay with me; you needed your rest…!"

I looked back at him; him with the same expression.

"I know…I'm sorry…it's just that, I wanted to see Nathaniel and make sure he was ok…I felt terrible for leaving him out in the rain like that…I'm sorry…!"

I could feel the tears welling up.

"It's ok…don't cry…" Nathaniel said to me from across the room.

"No, It's not ok. I understand she wanted to make sure you weren't hurt, but that is NO excuse for her to be three-timing us." Castiel interrupted, glaring at me.

"Castiel!"

"No! She needs to know that this is wrong!"

He looked away from Nathaniel and instead, at me.

"How long were you gonna string us along like this?! You CAN'T. HAVE. all THREE of us! What is WRONG with you?!"

"EVERYTHING!" I screamed at him, bursting into tears.

He just stared at me, shocked. Slowly, I lowered my face into my hands. "Everything…is wrong with me. I know that what I'm doing is wrong...but I just want everyone to be happy…and that's why it's just so hard…"

"…Well…you can forget about moving in with me…at least until you make your decision. You got 'til Christmas, Slim, and if you can't decide by then…you can forget about 'us'.

I was a little sad by his words. Nevertheless, I nodded in agreement, knowing this plan was for the best. But Christmas was only a month away…I didn't have a lot of time left….

"…I think we should spend some time apart as well…" Nathaniel said to me.

"Yeah…that would be for the best…" I replied, looking away from both of them.

"Well, I'm outta here." Castiel said as he got up and walked towards the door.

"And one more thing…"

"Yeah…?"

"You got the choice between me and him. Lysander is OUT of the question; do you understand me?"

"I hate to say it, but he's right. Lysander is dangerous, Julia; I'd hate to think of what he might do to you. Even if you don't choose me, I would feel safer knowing that you had chosen Castiel instead. At least, I know he won't hurt you.

"Yeah…I'll stay away from Lysander..."

*As if THAT'LL be easy… -.-*

"I mean it, Slim."

And with that, he left.

"Don't worry…I won't ever let him near you." Nathaniel said to me, as if he already knew what I was thinking.

"But…you'll just hurt yourself again…!" I replied, turning to look at him; sitting in a hospital bed, and injured because of Lysander.

"I would rather get hurt than let him hurt you." He said, looking at me with sad eyes.

*Yeah…but you're talking about two completely different hurts, Nathaniel…*

"Well…thank you." I said back to him before laying down and turning to the other side.

*…But what if Lysander isn't dangerous? What if he won't hurt me? He only does the things he does because I don't pay attention to him. Maybe he would stop if I chose him. Maybe he's actually a really nice person who just needs…love…*

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed Lysander was really a nice person deep down. But I still couldn't ignore the possibility of him actually being the person he seemed to be.

I must have fallen asleep in the middle of my thoughts because the next time I opened my eyes, it was dark outside and the room's light was off. I wanted to know what time it was, but there were no digital clocks in the room and it was way too dark to see the wall-clock.

Suddenly, I sensed another presence in the room…right next to me…

"Oh, you're awake…" the person whispered.

I closed my eyes, and sighed; I already knew who it was…

"Lysander."

Normally, I would've freaked out and asked how he got in here so late at night, but after seeing the lengths he'd gone to before, I wasn't surprised at all.

"I heard you collapsed…I came here to make sure you were ok..."

He stroked the side of my face with his hand.

"I know it's late at night, but I didn't want to visit you with Castiel here, watching over you like a hawk."

*…Says the guy who DOES watch me like a hawk.*

And then I thought of something…

"Lysander…were you waiting for me to wake up?"

I just couldn't help but ask.

"No, of course not, Darling. I would never want to disturb you in your sleep; I just came here to check on you. That's all."

"…"

"And no, I was not going to stay here and watch you all night. I'm not like that, so you don't have to worry…"

"What?"

"Trust me Darling, I could tell what you were thinking."

"Um…okay…"

"Well, I should be going now. I'll see you soon..."

Lysander leaned down, about to kiss me, when the door suddenly opened and a nurse walked in.

"Yes, did someone call-" She took one look at Lysander and froze. "H-How did you get in here?! Security!" She practically ran out the door, shouting for back-up. And sure enough, about five seconds later, security came in and escorted Lysander out of the room. Once they had shut the door behind them, the room had gone silent again. But unlike the room, I wasn't at peace just yet. I was still too shocked at what had just happened to even THINK straight!

*Wh-What just happened?! Why did the nurse…?*

"He thinks he can just sneak in here whenever he wants?"

That soft voice from across the room…

"Nathaniel?"

"It's good to know that my pager works now…"

"…Did you…?"

"Julia, I told you; I'm not letting him anywhere near you. I meant that. Now just relax. You need your rest…"

"Okay…good night…"

"Good night…"

And with that, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

*One month…what do I do?!*


	19. Off to a Rough Start

The next morning, I was discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home. I would've said goodbye to Nathaniel before I left, but he was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake him. Not to mention...I just wanted to get out of there...

I already knew I was late for school, but I wasn't that late. After all it was only 10 a.m.; they worst they could give me was an absentee note, which I could just have my "parents" sign later. No big deal. So, I stopped at my apartment to pick up my things and then I was off to school.

When I got to the courtyard, I noticed Castiel standing by his tree as usual; I remembered that we were supposed to stay away from each other though, so I ignored him and kept on walking. Unfortunately, he couldn't do the same.

"H-Hey! What are you doing here? You should be at the hospital!"

*So much for staying away from each other…*

I was a little surprised at how quickly Castiel had forgotten his own idea, but I decided to stick with it, so I ignored him.

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

He was now following me. Still, I said nothing.

"Hey!"

Castiel grabbed my shoulder and forced me to face him; and as much as I wanted to go elsewhere, I couldn't. Unfortunately, my anger got the best of me.

"What?!"

He stared at me for a moment before continuing to yell at me.

"What are you doing here?!"

"They released me from the hospital. I'm going to school!"

"No! Doctor said you need rest, so go home!"

"I had TWO DAYS to rest! I'll be fine!"

"No you won't! Go home!"

Without saying anything, I turned away and stomped towards the school again.

"Slim!"

He ran after me.

"NO!"

"NOW!"

*That's it…*

I whipped my arm around and smacked him as hard as I could.

"YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

He just stared at me, frozen. Slowly, he put his hand up to where I had hit him.

Before he got the chance to say ANYTHING else, I ran from him, bursting through the front doors of the school and disappearing from sight.

She hit me…she actually hit me…I didn't think that Slim could be so…cold…

I stomped my way through the school hallways; if I was going any faster, I would've been running. I had just gotten my things from my locker and was on my way to class when I heard someone call my name.

"Hey! Julia!"

I turned to see Melody standing in the doorway of the student council room. I walked over to her, wondering what she had to say.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You forgot this…"

She handed me a slip of paper. As expected, it was an absentee note.

"Oh, thanks…" I took it from her and placed it in my bag.

"Oh….hey…could you do me a favor?" she asked. The look on her face told me it was important.

"Sure…" I was more than willing to help out; after all, Melody was my friend, and friends help each other.

"Thanks….listen, I know you already have a lot to deal with...but I need your help. As you know, Nathaniel is the student body president, but currently, he's in the hospital, so he won't be able to do his job here at Sweet Amoris. I need you to take his place…"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"What?! Melody-!"

"J-Just for the time being! Just until he's out of the hospital! And then you can do whatever you want."

I calmed down a little.

"Okay…"

"So...all you need to do is help us out in the student council room every day after school for 30 minutes a day until Nathaniel gets back. And from what I've heard, it doesn't sound like he'll be gone for long. Is that okay?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine."

She smiled at me.

"Ok then, thank you."

I smiled back.

"You're welcome."

I turned away and started off towards class again, only to be stopped when Melody said…

"Hey…Nathaniel loves you...y'know…"

I turned my head to look at her.

"…I know…"

And with that, hesitantly, I started towards class again.

Classes were boring, as usual. Luckily, lunchtime finally came and I was so relieved to get all those pointless numbers out of my head. I sat with Iris again….as usual….

"Hey, I heard you collapsed at the hospital. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Iris…"

But even though I was fine physically, I wasn't even CLOSE to being fine emotionally. Iris sort of picked that up though….

"Are you sure? You seem kind of down today."

"Iris, it's ok….I'm ok."

I faked a smile at her, which she returned, but I could tell she was still unsure whether I was really 'ok' or not.

"Well, ok then…"

And then, out of the corner of my mind, I suddenly realized something.

"Wait….where did Ken go?"

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen Ken at all lately…

Iris just stared at me; shocked.

"Julia….seriously? Ken transferred out of here two months ago."

That was news to me.

"Oh…really? Huh, I guess with everything going on, I never even noticed…"

"But Julia….he even said goodbye to you before he left."

Now I was just shocked.

"He did?! How did I not notice THAT?!"

"…Are you sure you're ok…?"

"I guess I should apologize to him when I get the chance….IF I get the chance…."

I wasn't even listening to Iris at that point.

"Hey!"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry…what did you say again?"

We both went silent for a moment, but Iris spoke again soon afterward.

"No, seriously….what's bothering you? I've seen you space out before, but…."

I looked away, remaining silent.

"…It's about the boys, isn't it?"

I nodded, slowly.

"Yeah…it's just….I don't know…."

"…Well, don't worry. Whoever you end up with, I support you 100%."

"Thanks Iris…."

"Well I gotta get goin. See you later~!"

Iris stood up and started to walk away, but then turned back to say,

"Oh….and uh, 'say hi' to Castiel for me!"

"Yeah, ok…"

And with that, she left.

*"Whoever I end up with", huh? REAL subtle, Iris…*

Not long after that, I left as well. After the rest of the day's classes were over, I was more than happy to go home….until I remembered that I still had to help Melody… *….So close…. -.-*

So, with a sigh, I made my way over to the student council room. When I got there, Melody greeted me with a smile.

"Oh, hi Julia! Ready to get started?"

"Sure…what do I have to do?"

"It's simple really…all you have to do today is make copies of this document and then give them out to the entire school."

My eyes widened.

"What?!"

She just smiled again and calmly said,

"Don't worry; you won't have to do it alone. That's what the rest of us are here for"

I looked around the room, but I only found three people besides us.

"But there are only five of us; the school has 500 people. That means we each have to hand out about 100 copies!"

"Yes, but no one said we had to 'hand' them out; sticking them on the lockers counts too" Melody said, grinning with a slightly evil expression. And guess what? I did the same.

After all the copies were finally handed out (or stuck to the lockers; whatever), my thirty minutes for the day were up and I was finally allowed to go home. Well, I still had basketball practice that day, but with my new responsibility, I'd already missed half of practice, and there was no way I was going now just to get trampled by the other students. And I definitely wasn't going because I was bound to see…him.

Of course, it took me a few more minutes to get my things, but as soon as I was ready, I was out of there. Well, almost…I was just making my way across the courtyard towards the sidewalk when someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Avoiding me again, are you, Darling? You just never learn…"

*Ugh…not again…*

I really hadn't been trying to avoid Lysander at all that day; actually, I wasn't paying attention at all. Lately, but especially now, it was really hard for me to focus on anything, let alone remembering to talk to Lysander….

"Leave me alone, Lysander…"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm gonna kick your $$ if you don't!

I quickly turned to see Castiel punch Lysander right in the face, full force.

"Oh, so you think you can win that easily?"

Lysander threw a punch back at Castiel, piercing him straight in the gut. Holding his abdomen where Lysander hit him with one hand, Castiel punched Lysander again with the other; and the two of them kept going. I could tell the fight wasn't gonna end soon and I didn't want to be in the middle of it, so, quickly and carefully, I snuck away and ran all the way home.

Once there, I quickly locked the door and slid to the floor.

*Ugh…what a day…*

Slowly, I got back up and threw my backpack onto the couch.

"Well…" I said to myself, "might as well get my homework done…"

So, I got out whatever I was assigned that day and started working on it. However, I had only gotten a few questions of history done when I heard a knock at the door. Of course, I went to go answer it. And as soon as I unlocked and opened that door…

"Did you really think I didn't notice you run away?"

Lysander stepped to the side and let himself into my apartment.

*WHY did I do that?! .*

Regardless of my stupidity just then, I answered his snide remark with one of my own.

"Stalking me again, are you, Lysander? You just never learn…"

He smirked slightly.

"Cute. But don't play with me; I can be quite dangerous…"

*Oh believe me, I know…*

"So, why are you here?

"Why do you think?"

Lysander came up to me and leaned in, caressing my face with his hand.

"Every day, you run away from me…don't you realize how much I miss you?"

Before I could say anything, he leaned in all the way and kissed me passionately, as if he never had the chance to do so before.

After about a minute or so, Lysander pulled away, making sure not to make the same mistake as last time. Then he pulled me closer to him and rested his head on me.

"Darling…...why are you so cold to me? Why won't you listen to me….or talk to me? Why do you always….run away?"

"…You said it yourself, Lysander…you're dangerous…I don't feel safe with you…"

"…That hurts….you know…"

"…I'm sorry…but…..now would be a good time…to start looking for someone else…"

"I can't do that…I love you…" Lysander said softly, gently kissing my head.

*…And there's his confession…*

"…..I'm not saying that you don't have a chance with me anymore…I'm just saying your chances aren't very…good….."

"…So…..if you don't like me…then who do you like?"

"…I haven't decided yet. Castiel and Nathaniel decided to give me some time…and space….to think about it. They've also decided that you're not an option anymore."

"They can't tell you who to be with…"

"I know…..you're right…"

"…How long did they give you?"

"…A month."

"…I see…"

Lysander headed towards the door, and I opened it for him. He stepped out into the apartment building hallway, and then turned to face me again.

"Then I'll give you some time as well…but don't think I'm giving up on you. That….would never happen."

He leaned down and kissed me one last time.

"…I'll miss you…..goodnight, Darling…."

And then he left.

That night (and I shouldn't even have to say this anymore), I wasn't able to sleep at all. In fact, now that I thought about it, I had barely been able to rest at all ever since I first enrolled in Sweet Amoris High. I mean, it had only been half a year, and I was already expected to choose my life-long partner out of three people who I'd only known for that long (one of them even less than that).

When I first enrolled, I didn't think I was ready for one boyfriend. let alone three. *Does love always move this fast?* I had no idea of what love even was, but I was pretty sure it took longer than half a year to bloom in people. *Everything just….hates me I think.*

And having decided that, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.


	20. My Decision

The next morning, I woke up with mixed feelings. Today, I would have to start deciding. Castiel, Nathaniel, Lysander…who would I end up with? It was pretty clear now that I wasn't deciding just anything. I was deciding….

My one and only love.

Despite my situation, I still had to go to school. So, just as yesterday and all my previous school days, I quickly got ready and was on my way.

Castiel wasn't standing by his tree today. I figured he'd gone inside to 'spy' on me again. However, when I got inside and looked around, I couldn't see him anywhere.

*Huh…either Castiel's doing a better job of spying on me than usual or he just didn't come to school today….*

For the moment, I assumed that he was just spying more carefully. After all, Castiel wouldn't skip school knowing that Lysander's watching me….at least I didn't think he would….

I skipped school today. I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of leaving Slim, with Lysander stalking her like that, but after what happened yesterday, it was obvious that Slim wanted me to stay away. At least until she realizes that she belongs with me.

….She will come back to me….I know she will….. she has to…

Regardless of Castiel's strange behavior that day, I carried on my day as normal. Went to classes, lunch with Iris, helping Melody, school club, blah blah blah….

Lysander hadn't approached me once that day; instead, he did his best to avoid me. And for him, THAT is impressive. (XD)

Nathaniel still hadn't shown up yet, but that didn't worry me; I knew he would come back eventually. I considered going to see him, but that would go against the 'no boys until xmas' rule. So, I just went home.

I was finally able to concentrate on my homework; no consuming thoughts, no disruptions. I even got some free time after I got done, and I barely had any trouble falling asleep that night.

Of course, I still knew I had to make a choice that would change my life (well, not severely, but still…). I'd have to weigh my options somehow. But that could wait another day; today had been peaceful, and I wasn't going to give in to my thoughts. Not this time.

About Two Weeks Later…

Several days had gone by; everything stuck in the same position. No Castiel (figured out after a few days that he really had been skipping school), No Nathaniel (starting to worry about him…), and barely any Lysander (avoided me at every chance he got).

The fact that they were leaving me alone meant more peace and quiet in my life. However, it was only a week until Christmas, and even though winter break had already started, I was feeling uneasy. Very uneasy.

I mean, of course I was happy that the holidays were almost here, but at the same time, I knew Christmas was the day I had to make my decision once and for all. It was inevitable.

I decided that if I was going to choose my permanent boyfriend, I'd better start thinking about it and compare every pro and con I could find. Though, the more I thought about it, the harder it was for me to decide.

I mean, they all had their good and bad qualities, and overall, not one of them seemed to outweigh the other two.

Castiel seemed to really care about me, but he cared a little TOO much. Always keeping me close to him and telling me what to do (but especially what NOT to do) was his way of protecting me, and while it was flattering and made me feel safe, it also made me feel as if he didn't respect my rights as a person to go wherever and do whatever I wanted.

Nathaniel was really nice to me, but maybe a little TOO nice… Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed spending time with him; especially when he held me. He was so soft and gentle, and most of the time, I could've fallen asleep in his arms, but it seemed like he always knew just when to let go (before I actually DID fall asleep on him! X3). However, it was because he was so kind and warm-hearted that (and I don't like to say this) he was actually a little boring.

It was obvious to me that Lysander was actually a nice person on the inside, but everything he'd done to me so far was just…wrong. Even though he only did those things because he wanted me to need him, to love him; even though he apologized in the end, and even though I believed him when he told me he loved me, his actions up until then had scarred me. Possibly for life.

Yes, they all had their good qualities and their bad qualities, and I just couldn't decide between them. Were the good qualities worth dealing with the bad ones? …Or weren't they? Was it too much to deal with? Or maybe….maybe I shouldn't deal with them at all….

While I knew that I loved all three guys, I also considered the possibility of leaving them all behind. My love life had turned to chaos, and I wasn't sure whether it was my fault or if it was just meant to be that way. I didn't like the idea, but at the same time, I did. I'll admit it. From Castiel to Nathaniel to Lysander to no one at all, I was torn. Completely torn.

But I wasn't going to rest until I had made my decision once and for all…..and that was because I couldn't rest. (My brain wouldn't let me. XD)

A Few Days Later…

A few more days had gone by and it was now Christmas Eve. I was so nervous, I was almost shaking. So much had to be done for the holidays; presents had to be bought, cookies needed to be baked, and tomorrow's dinner certainly wasn't going to prepare itself! (Certain parts of xmas dinner should be prepared on xmas eve, for those of you that didn't know. :P) Not to mention the fact that I still couldn't make that decision!

*Of all the times they could've given me….why Christmas?! .*

With lots to do and the stress of the holidays, the boys' deadline sure wasn't making my job any easier!

*Oh well, I can't change that now…they would be furious…*

After a few minutes of planning out my day, I went out to go shopping for Christmas presents for my friends.

*Hmm…I wonder if I should get the boys something too…*

Since I knew I was going to face them anyway, I figured I would get them each a few presents; it WAS still the holidays after all…

*But what should I get them?*

It took me a while, looking through all different kinds of stores, to find the perfect gifts for them.

For Nathaniel, a blue cotton sweater (guessing at the size…) and a cat plushie (he always seemed soft and cuddly~ ^w^).

For Castiel, another Winged Skull T-Shirt (like the one he wears, but black) and a copy of Winged Skull's newest album (I hoped he didn't already have that…he probably did, but I got it for him anyway).

And for Lysander, a new notebook to write all of his "top secret" poems in and…..I didn't really know what kind of clothes he liked so…a purple scarf? (You can't go wrong with scarves, can you? ^w^" …Can you?! "OwO") I certainly hoped not…

I picked out some stuff for my other friends as well; some headphones for Iris (I remembered her saying one day that she had an iPod, but no headphones…hopefully she could listen to music now instead of talking to me all the time), a stuffed teddy bear for Violette (I knew she already had one, but what if the one she has gets lonely? ^w^), and a binder for Melody (I knew she was already organized, but you can never be too careful, y'know? ^w^")

After that, I decided to end my shopping trip, so I bought all the things I'd gotten for my friends and went home.

After a while of gift wrapping and cookie baking (and some dinner preparation for tomorrow…), I was more than ready to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long, eventful day; and I was going to need my rest. THAT, I knew for sure….

The Next Morning…

*This is it….the day my life changes….* I thought to myself as I got out of bed. Usually at this time of year, I'd be ecstatic about Christmas. This year…not so much. I was too worried about the deadline to even consider being excited today.

When exactly did they expect me to come up with my answer? Did I have some time left? Or…were they already on their way here? I started to panic, but then I calmed down again once I realized I didn't have time to panic!

Thinking back to all of my years before this, I would never have guessed that my love life would be this difficult. I never could have known I'd have three guys fighting over me or that I'd feel so many things all at once. Who knew that love could do that to a person?

Nevertheless, that was then and this is now. I had to focus…

All day long, even while doing everything I would normally do on Christmas; exchange gifts with friends, watch Christmas specials on TV, make dinner, etc.; I couldn't stop worrying; I was emotionally freaking out! This whole situation I'd gotten myself into was consuming my every thought….and there wasn't anything I could do about it…..

Before long, nighttime had already come around. It was 8 o'clock and I'd heard nothing from any of the boys.

*Maybe they forgot…?*

Although it was odd that none of them contacted me, I knew better than to actually think they'd forgotten about me. There was no way they could just go after me and then completely forget about me. No way.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, my cell phone buzzed.

Of course, it was Lysander. I already kind of expected that.

"Darling….Come to the park as soon as you can…."

Lysander texted me, telling me to go to the park.

This was it…it had to be. Castiel and Nathaniel were bound to be there as well, because this…..was where I'd be making my decision…..

I figured I'd give them their gifts while I was there, so I gathered everything I bought for them, and left for the park.

Once I got there, I looked around, but I couldn't see them anywhere. I wandered around for a little bit before I remembered something.

*Wait….there was a secret area, wasn't there?*

I remembered that Castiel showed me a more secluded area of the park the last time I was here with him. I thought there was a pretty good chance that he would be there with Nathaniel and Lysander. So, instead of wandering around, I decided to go to that area of the park.

And I thought correctly. Standing there, right next to each other, were Castiel, Nathaniel, and Lysander, all of them, staring at me.

*Well, it's good to know Nathaniel's feeling better…*

"It's about time you showed up." Castiel said, crossing his arms. "I thought you were trying to hide from us."

Before I forgot, I decided to give each of them their gifts.

"…M-Merry Christmas. Here….these are for you…."

Lysander opened his first.

"Hmm….a new notebook. I could use this….and….a purple scarf?"

*…..Please like it…. ^w^"*

He smiled at me.

"It's lovely; thank you."

*Phew…. ."*

Nathaniel was next.

"…..I like the sweater…..and I love this cat plushie. How did you know I like cats?"

"Um…..you seem like the kind of guy who likes cats…."

"Well, thank you. It's adorable."

And finally, it was Castiel's turn.

"Heh, nice shirt…."

He put the shirt aside and stared at his other present, slowly taking it out of the bag.

"…..Slim….geez, how much did you spend on this?"

*I got you something you like, and THAT'S what you're worried about?! ^w^"*

"I can't believe you got me their new album…."

"Well, I know you like them, but I wasn't sure if you already had it, so if you do, then—"

Castiel pulled me into his arms (which the other boys did NOT appreciate XD) and hugged me tightly.

"Slim….it's ok. I love it. Thank you."

"You're welcome…."

He then let go of me and said,

"We have a present for you too."

"Really?"

I was surprised; I didn't expect them to get me anything…

Castiel smirked at me.

"Yeah….why do you think all of that music equipment is right there?"

I looked over and saw a stage-like setup of some instruments; a guitar, a drum set, and a microphone stand.

"Woah…when did THAT get there….?"

They all chuckled at me, which made me blush a little.

Castiel and Lysander got into their positions; Castiel strapped his guitar around him and Lysander stood at the microphone. I looked over at the drums and then at Nathaniel.

"Um….."

"Oh yeah….did I forget to mention that I play drums?"

I just stared at him.

*YES! .*

"Really? You do? You never told me…."

He looked away.

"Well….I was waiting for the right moment…."

*Riiiiiiiiiiight… ."*

Nathaniel walked over and sat down behind the drum set, and then started the song. The guitar instrumentals came soon after, and finally, the singing.

I recognized the song they were playing; it was the new one they played for me the day I met Lysander. It still sounded amazing as ever, and the drums made it even better.

From what I remembered, the song was only half-finished the last time I heard it, but now they were playing a new part of the song I hadn't heard before. It was wonderful; maybe even my favorite part of the song, but I loved all of it…I truly loved that song from the bottom of my heart…..

After another minute, the song was over.

"So, Slim, what'd ya think? Do you still like my awesome guitar skills?"

"Oh, you and your 'awesome guitar skills'….anyway, it was great. I love it."

"We decided to set aside our differences for one second and finish that song for you….because we know you love it."

"Oh…that's so sweet of you guys….…thank you."

"Yes, well…..now that our 'gift exchange' is over…..I think we have some unfinished business…"

I now remembered that I still had to make my decision between them.

"Right….that….."

"Indeed…."

"Well? Who's it gonna be, Slim?"

I knew right then and there that if I didn't make my decision now….I never will…..

After going over my options one last time, I had finally made my decision. I took a deep breath…

"…..I…I choose….."


	21. My Favorite Song (Castiel's Ending)

"….Castiel."

This was what I wanted; I knew it was. The first boy, no, the first anyone I ever talked to at this school was Castiel, whether he knew it or not. My first day at Sweet Amoris High. My first moments. That was when I met him.

He was the first person to ever talk to me (and not to mention, in that "conversation", came up with his infamous nickname for me... .). Ever since then, somehow, our relationship only grew stronger, and before we knew it, we were in love.

And all it took was a clueless girl who asked a bad boy for directions.

"Slimmy..."

Castiel walked up to me and yanked me into his arms, pulling me as close to him as possible.

"I knew you would choose me...I love you so much, baby..."

"I love you too...so much..."

"...I knew it...I KNEW IT!"

All of a sudden, Nathaniel exploded. Castiel and I just stood there and stared; it was so unlike him...

"I KNEW I shouldn't have let you near him! I KNEW I shouldn't have let HIM near YOU! But no! I just stood there like an idiot and watched him drag you away from me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!"

"LIAR!"

Castiel threw his fist at Nathaniel, punching him right in the face! ….Hard.

Nathaniel was immediately knocked to the ground.

"YOU'RE the one trying to take Slim away from ME!"

He kicked him hard in the ribs, making Nathaniel scream in pain.

"Castiel, stop!"

I couldn't let this go on; I mean, of course Castiel was right, but NO ONE should be getting hurt! Not to mention that Nathaniel was still weak in the ribs because of Lysander!

I desperately grabbed Castiel's arm, trying to pull him away. Thankfully, even though I couldn't budge him, he listened and left Nathaniel alone.

"I hope you learned your lesson!"

As he took a moment to calm down, I turned to look at Lysander, who hasn't said anything since before I made my decision. He was just staring at the trees, mumbling to himself. I could tell he was distracted by something...

*Maybe he knew...* I thought to myself. *Maybe he knew I would choose Castiel...and was just waiting until I said it.*

And then, suddenly, he just walked away.

*What...?*

I never expected Lysander, of all people to just leave like that...

"Hey..." Castiel put his hand on my shoulder, turning me to face him.

"...Let's go home, Slim..."

"...What?"

"Home, Slim. With me."

I couldn't help but blush. I just now remembered that Castiel said he wanted me to live with him when all of this was over.

"...Oh...um...are you sure-?"

"I don't want you living by yourself, Slim..."

He leaned in closer...

"I need you with me..."

….and he kissed me.

I swear, that was the sweetest thing that boy had ever said to me. And that kiss, well...he made it impossible not to say "yes."

(Probably on purpose. XD)

Once the kiss was over, I wanted to say goodbye to Nathaniel before I left, but...

"He's gone..."

"Good. Now let's go."

"Okay..."

And so, Castiel and I walked home. To our home.

It was a shame that Nathaniel left before I got the chance to say goodbye to him, but I couldn't blame him for wanting to leave...especially now that he knew that Castiel and I would be living together...

To be honest, I felt a little sad. I didn't really want to leave Nathaniel and Lysander behind, and I never wanted to hurt them...but I had to make a decision.

And I did.

*Goodbye Nathaniel...Goodbye Lysander...

...I hope you can find happiness...someday...*

Three Days Later...

It had been three days since Castiel and I moved in together. Everything was going great so far; after all, after living most of our lives alone, both of us finally had someone to come home to (other than a dog, of course), and we couldn't be happier.

Other than that, everything was pretty much the same. We would go to school (or at least I would; Castiel would always just stay by his tree in the courtyard :P), hang out together afterwards, and then go back home.

Of course, I still saw Nathaniel and Lysander a lot at school. But now, something about them was different. Every time I saw Nathaniel, I noticed that he was always talking to Melody, and Lysander...well...I've noticed that he was spending a lot more time with Rosalya than before. But whether or not he was going after his brother's girlfriend was none of my business; he can do whatever he wants.

*Typical Lysander...going after what's not his...XD*

Today was just another day; nothing special. After school was over, Castiel told me that he had something to take care of and that he'd be home later. I trusted him enough to go out by himself; I knew he wouldn't go and do something stupid after trying so hard to get me to be with him; so I went home alone.

Considering I had so much homework to do, I decided to go ahead and start on that. After all, Castiel wasn't here and I had nothing better to do. So, I pulled out the pile of homework assignments my teachers had given me that day and started working on them...

It wasn't long before Castiel came home...

"Slimmy, I'm home!"

Oh yeah. Did I mention that Castiel is calling me "Slimmy" now?

*Seriously, this boy is gonna be the death of me. T_T*

Nevertheless, I took a break from my homework to go and see him.

"Hi, Castiel."

Castiel pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.

"Hey, Slimmy."

"So, what did you have to do?"

He just grinned at me.

"Funny you should ask..."

He pulled out a small jewelry box from behind his back and opened it.

What I saw was...

"Marry me, Slim."

"..."

I froze. I just...I didn't know what to say...I mean, it had only been three days since I decided to be his girlfriend! I knew Castiel was one to rush things, but this...

"What's wrong?"

Castiel held my face with his hand.

"Don't you want to marry me?"

"Wha-No! That's not it!"

He leaned in closer, grinning at me.

"Then why not? Why, Slimmy?"

Now I saw what he was doing.

*Ohhh no. Not again. JUST because you got away with that LAST time does NOT mean you're gonna get away with it THIS time! .*

I quickly backed away from him.

"Because! It's only been three days since I agreed to be your girlfriend! Not to mention, that we're still just kids! I mean, just moving in with you was too much! And now marriage?! We're not even old enough to GET married!"

Castiel just sighed.

"I know, Slim, and I'm sorry..."

He walked over to me and pulled me close to him again.

"...but I love you. And I want you to be my wife."

He leaned in to kiss me, and I tried backing away again, but this time, he wasn't letting go.

…..For two hours...(T_T)

Needless to say, he got me to say "yes.".

As the end of the year drew near, I couldn't help but think about everything that had happened that year. I went to a new school (again...), got into a chaotic love-square, and got engaged.

(Still couldn't believe it only took me a year to get engaged. .")

That year put me through the worst time I'd had for years; not only having to deal with school and living on my own, but also the love of three boys who I'd only just met...but thinking about it, it was also probably one of the best years of my life. I got the chance to make some friends for once, and even though I spent the year dealing with THREE boys, I finally ended up with just ONE...one that I love so much...

Thinking about everything that had happened that year, all the good AND bad, it was undeniable. That year was and always will be...

…...My Favorite Song.


	22. My Favorite Song (Nathaniel's Ending)

"….Nathaniel."

This was my decision. I knew right then and there that the one I truly wanted to be with...….was Nathaniel.

"WHAT?! HIM?! You chose GOLDEN BOY over ME?!"

"Yes! He's sweet, kind, and he doesn't try to control me, unlike you!"

I looked at Lysander.

"And he isn't sick and twisted like YOU!"

"Slim..."

"Darling, please..."

"And that's another thing! When's the last time EITHER of you called me by my real name?!"

They both fell silent. It seemed they didn't know how to respond to that. Not that I could blame them; I couldn't even remember it myself.

"That's what I thought. Look, you wanted me to make a decision, and I made one. I mean it; I wanna be with Nathaniel."

A few seconds later, I felt someone's arms wrap around me.

"Julia...I'm so happy to hear you say that..."

He moved one of his hands to the back of my head, pulling me closer.

"I love you."

"I love you too...I'm sorry I couldn't say it before, but...I love you, Nathaniel."

Slowly, he let go and stared into my eyes. Then, holding my face with his hand, he leaned in closer and closer, until his lips finally met mine. He was so soft and warm...it seemed like forever since he loved me like this...

*I guess I never realized how much I missed him...*

After another moment, Nathaniel broke the kiss.

"Um...it's getting late. I'll walk you home..."

"Yeah..."

Nathaniel took my hand and led me in the direction of my apartment. I looked back once more to see Castiel and Lysander standing there, staring at me.

Castiel's eyes were begging me not to go, and Lysander just looked so...sad and disappointed.

I understood how they felt; I loved them too and it was sad for me to leave them behind...but I knew all along that I would have to break some hearts tonight...I couldn't have all three of them...

*Goodbye...I'm sorry...I never meant to hurt you, but...goodbye...*

Many years later...

"Mommy, I'm hungry! Is dinner ready yet?"

I turned to look at the little boy standing behind me.

"Yes, sweetie. It should be done soon~"

"Okay!"

Ever since the night of my decision, Nathaniel and I were always together. We never broke up. Not even once.

It was still painful to see Castiel and Lysander at school, but once they had realized I was never coming back to them...they eventually...faded away. And over time, any memory I ever had of them faded away as well...and now I could barely even remember what they looked like.

A few years after that, Nathaniel and I graduated high school, and a few more years after that, college too. Not long after we graduated college, Nathaniel finally decided to marry me. And then, a few more years after that, we had a son. We both decided to name him Christian; it seemed like a suitable name for a son of Nathaniel.

Now, it was almost Christian's 6th birthday; it was hard to believe he was growing up so fast.

"Oh, dinner's done~"

I scooped some stew into a bowl and handed it to Christian.

"There you go."

"Thanks...hey mommy, when's daddy gonna be home?"

I looked at the clock: 5:30 p.m.

"He should be home soon; why?"

Christian just smiled.

"Because I'm gonna be six tomorrow! I wanted to tell him that I'M the man of the house now!"

I cracked up at that.

"Oh really?" I said in-between laughs, trying to catch my breath.

"Yeah! That's why he needs to get home now!"

Suddenly, I heard a sound. The front door opened and in walked Nathaniel with a big smile on his face.

"Honey, I've got great news..."

I stepped out of the kitchen and greeted my husband with a hug.

"Really? What is it?"

"I got a promotion!"

"Oh, that's great~!" I said cheerfully and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

Then our son decided to come out of the kitchen...

"Daddy! Daddy!"

"Hey buddy!"

Nathaniel crouched down and hugged our son.

"Daddy, guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm gonna be six tomorrow~!"

"Oh, that's right, it's someone's birthday tomorrow, isn't it?"

I smirked at Christian.

"Christian, tell Daddy what you told me..."

It was then that Christian remembered (short-term memory; got that from me. XD).

"Oh yeah! I wanted to tell you, I'M the man of the house now!"

Nathaniel just started laughing and I did too.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! And don't forget it!"

Christian ran all the way back to his room.

Nathaniel and I were still laughing.

"Isn't that just the funniest thing you ever heard?"

Nathaniel was laughing too hard to reply. I took that as a "yes".

Later that night, when we were just about to go to sleep, I thought of something...

"Hey, Nathaniel?"

"Yes?"

"...Do you remember when we met?"

"Of course I do; I could never forget."

He kissed me on the side of my head.

"Now go to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be an...interesting day."

We both chuckled at that.

"Okay..."

The room was silent again, but that doesn't mean my head was (it never is, is it? :/).

I started thinking back to that year in Sweet Amoris High School. I thought about all the good times and the bad...I thought about my love life back then and how it'd gotten to be so chaotic...and I thought about the song Nathaniel and the others had played for me on that night...I loved that song, no, the entire year; all the memories, even to this day...and I knew...those days had truly been...

…...My Favorite Song.


	23. My Favorite Song (Lysander's Ending)

"….Lysander."

This was my decision. I didn't care whether or not Lysander was 'off-limits'; I loved him. And I wanted to be with him.

"...No. I WON'T allow it! He-"

"I don't care. This is MY life and MY decision. If I want to be with Lysander, then so be it."

"But Julia, what about all the things he's done to you?"

"I hate to say it, but I'm gonna have to agree with Golden Boy on this one. He's dangerous, Slim."

"No he isn't. He only did those things because he wanted my attention. He's lonely."

"That's no excuse!"

"And even when he WAS doing those things, it's not like he was hurting me!"

"May I remind you of that BRUISE he gave you!"

"And that time he almost "punished" you!"

"That bruise was an accident, and that "punishment" never happened!"

"Only because I saved you!"

They stopped and stared at each other for a moment.

*Oh yeah...that's right. Both Castiel and Nathaniel thought he was the one who saved me...*

But the fact was, they both did. Nathaniel stalled Lysander so that I could escape him, and then I ran to Castiel's house, and Castiel chased Lysander away...

"YOU saved her?!"

"YOU did?!"

I could tell that this wasn't going to end well...

"BOTH of you did."

They stared at me.

"...It's a long story...Anyway, that doesn't matter now."

I walked over to Lysander and tightly wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I love you, Lysander. It took me a long time to realize it, but...I love you."

It only took him a second to respond, putting his arms around my waist and pulling me closer.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me...I love you too..."

"This...this can't be happening..."

"No..."

I let go of Lysander and looked at him.

"Hey...let's get out of here..."

I looked at Castiel and Nathaniel.

"...before these two get out of control..."

I looked at Lysander again, and he smiled at me.

"Good idea."

I smiled back at him.

We turned to go back to my apartment. After a few steps, I stopped and looked back at Castiel and Nathaniel, who were staring at me, shocked. Shocked that I had chosen Lysander, of all people. After all, this all began with Castiel and Nathaniel, and yet, I chose Lysander.

I could've imagined what they were going through; Castiel was probably (metaphorically) kicking himself for ever introducing me to Lysander in the first place. And Nathaniel...was most likely surprised and disappointed that I had left him for someone he only just found out about last month.

I was sad to be leaving them behind; I really did love both of them. But I wanted to be with Lysander. All he ever wanted was my love, but I never gave him a chance. Now, I would finally get to. He could finally be with me; all of this madness could end. That made me happy.

I looked back at Castiel and Nathaniel one more time.

*Goodbye...I love you both...but...goodbye...*

Some years later, but not TOO many

*Come on...* I thought to myself as I rushed into the bathroom. *I can't be pregnant yet; I haven't even graduated college!*

Ever since I was little, I had always planned on going through school and getting a stable job before having a family. Right now, I was only four years into college; I still had two to go. But this morning...I felt sick. REALLY sick. It came so suddenly; I knew it wasn't just a common cold or anything like that. So I looked online to see if it could be something, ANYTHING else...but...

Morning sickness is common during pregnancy...

That was the only explanation I could find, no matter where I looked.

*That's not right...that can't be right...*

Lysander and I had only done that once. And that was a week ago. If I really was...you know...wouldn't I have gotten sick before? There was no way...

And yet, there was. I looked at the pregnancy test...

Positive.

My heart sank. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I mean, of course I was happy to be having a child, but the timing was just...it was just too soon...

How would I tell Lysander?

After a few more seconds, I finished up and left the bathroom. After all, I still had to go to college today...

*...Maybe I can tell him later...*

Lysander and I were both interested in the music industry, so we went to a lot of the same classes together. However, today, it was almost impossible to focus on school; I couldn't stop thinking about the baby, and especially how I was going to tell Lysander about it.

*This isn't going to be easy. I mean, I can't just go up to Lysander and say "I'm pregnant," can I? …...Can I? o.o*

That way of telling him seemed a little too...direct. But it's not like I had any other ideas...

*Ugh... -.-*

After classes were over for the day, I went back to our dorm room. Well, technically, it was my dorm room; Lysander was supposed to be staying in his own dorm room. But no one ever really paid attention anyway, and Lysander wanted to be with me at all times, even at night.

I was now pacing around our room, desperately trying to think of what to say when Lysander got back; he had to go to some extra class or club or something, so he wouldn't be back for a little while. Still, I didn't have much time. I needed to think of something. And fast.

However, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't think of anything.

*Ugh, it's no use...* I thought to myself, collapsing onto the bed.

*I just don't know how to say it. But I have to tell him today. I have to...*

A secret like this wasn't something I would be able to keep, and I would rather tell Lysander about it than have him find out himself.

So I waited. And waited. Too nervous to think. And eventually...

"Darling, I'm back..." whispered a sweet voice from the door.

Ever since Lysander and I got together, he had been much nicer to me. It seemed he was only harsh to me back then because of his loneliness after all. But now...he was so sweet to me...

"Hey..."

I walked over and gave him a hug.

"How was your class?"

He sighed.

"Oh, it was okay, I suppose..."

Lysander looked at me. I must have looked worried because he suddenly became concerned.

"Darling...what's wrong?"

I blushed and looked away for a second.

"Um..."

*Oh no...what do I do...?*

I was just about to say something, but then something on the bedside table caught Lysander's eye.

*Oh no! I forgot to throw it away! OaO*

He walked over to it, and then stopped suddenly. He just stared at it, unsure of what to do...or say...

*Oh no...what do I do now? o.o"*

After a few seconds, Lysander finally spoke.

"...When were you going to tell me about this...?"

I suddenly became very terrified.

You see, even though Lysander HAD changed, he was still very dangerous when he was angry. He became exactly the way he was before, and even implemented "punishments" when necessary. I really didn't want to risk that. Not now...

"I'm sorry! I was gonna tell you just now, but I just didn't know how to say it...I don't even know how it happened; I just found out today! I'm so sorry-!"

Lysander pulled me into his arms and stroked my hair.

"Darling, it's okay..." He whispered into my ear.

"...I know you wouldn't keep something like this from me..."

I calmed down a little.

*Thank god he's not angry at me...*

"But...what are we gonna do? We're still too young to be having kids..."

"We'll think of something. We may be too young, and we may have to work a little harder...but no matter what happens, I'm not going to let you get rid of it. We're going to have this baby, and we're going to start a family together."

It might have been too soon...but the idea of a new family made me happy.

"Okay..."

As I stood there in Lysander's arms, I thought about him...and me...and our baby. Our first baby. I thought about the life we would have together, as a family. And about how this all came to be in the first place.

That year at Sweet Amoris High. The day I met Lysander. All of the memories. All of the pain and misery it took me to get here, and all of the sweetness and happiness I had once I did. And that song that Lysander and the others played... That year wasn't easy; I'll admit it...but it was precious to me. The year that started it all...and I loved every minute of it.

That year...had truly come to be...

….My Favorite Song.


	24. My Favorite Song (All Alone)

"….to be alone."

All three boys stared at me, completely shocked at what I had just said.

"...W-What...?

"Yeah. That's what I said. I want out."

"Whaddya mean you want "out"?

I hesitated for a moment before replying.

"...I've...thought about it. And...I decided that I'm not going to be with any of you. I can't choose between you three; I just can't! And it's not fair to any of us..."

"...So, you're just...leaving...?"

I remained silent. I could feel the tears coming...

"...Yes."

That was all I had to say.

Before giving them a chance to say anything else, I turned away and ran as fast as I could. Away from this. Away from my life. Away from my love. The tears wouldn't stop flowing...and I could feel my heart breaking.

I heard their voices in the distance, calling my name. They were chasing after me. But that didn't matter now. This was what I had chosen...and I knew it was for the best.

I knew not to run to my apartment. That would be the first place they looked. I needed to go somewhere they would never find me. I needed to get far away from here.

I knew I couldn't outrun them forever, so I frantically looked around for a taxi, or a bus, or ANYTHING to get me out of there. Sure enough, eventually I got to the streets, and there was a taxi just sitting there. Thank God the streets weren't busy; I needed to get out of there fast. So, without really thinking about it, I dashed across the street and jumped into the taxi.

"Go. Just go!"

The taxi driver was very confused, but nevertheless, he started driving. I looked behind me to see if the boys were still chasing me. None to my surprise, they WERE there, and still running, desperately trying to catch me, but they couldn't keep running forever...and eventually, they stopped. Realizing that they were too late, they just stood there, staring at me with sadness and disbelief.

"Do ya know those boys, miss?" The driver asked me.

"...No. Not anymore..."

*I'm sorry...I love all of you...but...it's time for me to move on...Goodbye, boys...*

As I drove away, they grew smaller and smaller.

*...we were almost there...*

And then, they disappeared.

One Year Later...

I let out a sigh as I once again made my way towards my new school.

*Here goes another year...*

Another repetition of my life process...I couldn't believe that I was doing this again. Especially after what had happened last year. But...it got too complicated...to the point where I didn't even have a choice anymore.

Since then, I moved to a different town and got a new apartment. I left everything I had back at my old apartment in Sweet Amoris. It was too risky to go back there and get my things; I didn't know what I would do if I ended up running into... A-And even if I didn't...that town...too many memories...

As I walked through the hallway, I just couldn't help but think of Sweet Amoris high. Everything that had happened there. Everything I had to go through. Even though I knew it would be best to just forget...

I couldn't let it go.

My life...my love was all in that town. Sometimes I wished I could've stayed. Sometimes I wished I hadn't chosen to be alone...but no matter how much I wished, I knew the reality. Going back there now would cause trouble for me. Nothing good would ever come of it.

After completing my school registration for what seemed to be the million-and-first time, I decided to explore my new school. Not too much though; I made sure not make THAT mistake again! (XD)

It wasn't long before I was walking through the hallways to go to class. I must not have been paying attention to where I was going, because as as I turned a corner to get to my classroom, I felt something hit me, knocking me to the ground.

"Ow..."

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you ok?"

I looked up to see a boy about my age with brown hair and blue eyes looking down at me.

*Not something...someone...*

"Yeah..." I replied, standing up and brushing myself off.

When I looked at him, I noticed the boy's gaze shift from me to all the books and papers that I was carrying scattered all over the floor.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! Let me get that for you!"

He scrambled to the floor and quickly started to pick them up. I kneeled to the floor to help him.

The boy shook his head.

"No, I got it; I'm the one who did this in the first place..."

I sighed and continued to pick up my things.

"No, it's not your fault. I'm the one who bumped into you, remember?"

"It was my fault. I-"

"Look, I'm always lost in my thoughts, so this happens to me a lot. Trust me, you didn't have anything to do with this."

We finished picking up everything and stood up again. I had just turned to leave when...

"Hey...you're a nice girl...I'm Chris. What's your name?"

I turned back to look at him and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Chris. I'm Julia."

"Julia...that's a pretty name. I'll see you later, Julia."

"Thanks...see you later..."

The boy smiled and walked away.

And I did too.

Aside from all the boring classes and such, the rest of the day wasn't really that bad. But it still didn't make me any less excited to finally go home for the day. (XD)

Later on, when I was thinking about it, I had to admit that my first day of school this year was better than most. It didn't play any terrible tricks on me like it usually did. In fact, my first-day-of-school clumsiness today actually did something good. It brought me a new friend. And someday, mabye...something more.

But thinking about it only made me think about last year again. I wasn't sure exactly what, but something about Chris made me think of...them...

Maybe it was because he was generous, like Nathaniel. Or that he looked at me the way Castiel used to...

And those words...

Julia...that's a pretty name.

….I could have sworn I'd heard someone say that before...

And as I thought about it, I began to realize...I missed them. All of them. That whole year the three of them spent fighting over me...even though I knew it was one of the most difficult times of my life...I realized that it was also the most precious to me.

Every day at that city. At that school. Ever since I moved away, I felt as if a piece of me was ripped from my heart. I knew that I would always love them, that a piece of my heart would always belong to each of them, and it killed me to know that I could never go back there again...

…..but it was time for me to let go...

Time for a new life. A new start. A new love. And I would find it...or maybe I already had. The future would tell.

But I couldn't let go just yet...

I still had one last thing to say.

Goodbye, Sweet Amoris...Goodbye...

…..My Favorite Song.


End file.
